A thin layer of fine-grained sediment deposited in the still waters of a lake. Varves are frequently associated with glaciation and represent a yearly sedimentation cycle - a silty, light-colored layer deposited in summer and a darker, organic-rich clay layer deposited during winter.
A pair of sediment beds deposited by a lake on its floor, typically consisting of a thick, coarse, light-colored bed deposited in the summer and a thin, fine-grained, dark-colored bed deposited in the winter. Varves are most often found in lakes that freeze in the winter. The number and nature of varves on the bottom of a lake provide information about the lake's age and geologic events that affected the lake's development.
A pair of thin sedimentary layers, one relatively coarse-grained and light-colored, and the other relatively fine-grained and dark-colored, formed by deposition on a lake bottom during a period of one year. The coarse-grained layer is formed during spring runoff, and the fine-grained layer is formed during the winter when the surface of the lake is frozen.
A sedimentary bed or lamina or sequence of laminae deposited in a body of still water within one year's time. More specifically, a thin pair of graded glaciolacustrine layers seasonally deposited, usually by meltwater streams, in a glacial lake or other body of still water in front of a glacier. The lower layer is coarser material deposited by rapid melting of ice in the warmer months, and the upper layer more fine-grained deposited from suspended particles in quiet water in the winter months.
A thin pair of sedimentary layers grading upward from coarse to fine and light to dark, found in a glacial lake and representing one year's deposition.
A pair of thin layers of glacial lake-bed sediment, one consisting of silt brought in during the spring floods, and the other of clay deposited during the winter when the lake's surface freezes over and the water is still.
A thin yearly deposit of sediment found on the bottom of a lake. Within each yearly varve, there are variations in the color and the texture of the material deposited. The thickness of the varve and its associated layers can be used to reconstruct past environmental conditions influencing the lake.
a pair of sedimentary layers, a couplet, that form in an annual cycle as the result of seasonal weather changes
a sedimentary bed, or sequence of beds, deposited in a body of still water over the period of a year
(Geology) (1) A layer or series of layers of sediment deposited in a body of still water in one year. (2) A regular, annual layer of silt or clay deposited in a glacier-fed lake within one year's time. (3) A pair of layers of alternately finer and coarser silt or clay believed to comprise an annual cycle of deposition in a body of still water.
A layer representing the annual deposit of sediment, it usually consists of a lighter and darker portion due to the change in rate of decomposition during the year. The material may be of any origin but the term is most often used in connection with glacial lake sediments.
A varve is an annual layer of sediment or sedimentary rock.