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Assuming that you are referring to a naturally deposited layer of soil, it would suggest that there has been a change in the depositional environment from a low energy to a high energy one.

For example in periods of dry weather with little rainfall, rivers can begin to dry up. The flow of water will be slow and there may even be "stagnant" pools where the water barely flows at all. These are "low energy" environments and the water is not able to carry sediment very effectively so even the very fine material such as clay will settle out of the water.

As the climate eventually becomes wetter, there will be more water in the river and the speed or flow velocity of the water will increase. This is an example a higher energy environment. As such the water is easily able to carry the very fine sediment but may still be unable to transport larger grain sizes such as sand which will be deposited over the location where the clay sized particles were originally deposited.

This cycle may continue over a number of years leading to alternating layers of finer and courser material.

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14y ago
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5mo ago

Clay sediment is denser and finer-grained than sand, so it tends to settle beneath sand due to gravity and compaction processes. This layering may occur naturally over time as sediments of different sizes and densities deposit in different layers.

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Q: Why may there be a layer of clay sediment underneath sand?
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