Chapter 3

SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 You might have heard us define structure in rocks as rock geometry on a scale much
larger than grains. This is a singularly unilluminating definition, be-cause it doesn't
conjure up in the mind of the uninitiated any of the great variety of interesting and
significant geometries that get produced by the physical, chemical, and biological
processes that operate on sediments during and after their deposi-tion.
1.2 One qualification to the foregoing definition is that the term structure is used in two
different senses:
θ For features, on the scale of hand specimens to large outcrops, produced within a
depositional environment, during or (usually) not long after de-position. These are
usually prefaced by the adjective sedimentary.
θ For features, on the scale of hand specimens to whole regions, produced by deformation
associated with regional rather than local deforming forces, folding and faulting being
perhaps the most obvious examples. This stuff is not the province of sedimentologists
or stratigraphers, although they have to be prepared to deal with it. These could be
prefaced with the adjective tectonic.
1.3 Study of sedimentary structures is important because they are far and away the most
valuable features for interpreting depositional environment. We know a lot about how
most structures are formed, so finding them in the rocks can tell you a lot about the
conditions of deposition. They're much more useful than textural things like grain-size
distribution and grain shape.
• 2. CLASSIFICATION

• 2.1 It's not easy to classify sedimentary structures, because both their
origins and their geometries are so highly varied. Two reasonable
ways of classifying them are on the basis of: kind of mechanism that
produces them (physical sedimentary structures, chemical
sedimentary structures, and biogenic sedimentary structures) and
time of development relative to time of deposition (primary
sedimentary structures and secondary sedimentary structures).

• 2.2 Figure 3-1 is a pigeonhole chart showing most of the important

structures in terms of such a twofold classification.
• 2.3 Physical primary structures are certainly the most common and
widespread and striking, and I think it's fair to say that in general
they're the most useful in interpretation. Most are related to
transportation and deposition of sediment particles at a
fluid/sediment interface. Such structures can be classified further on
the basis of their relationship to transportation (the movement of
sediment past a point on a sediment bed by currents) and
deposition (the increase in bed elevation at a point with time). Figure
3-2 is an unofficial classification of this kind. It doesn't serve very
well as a catalogue, but it should help to get your thinking
organized.
• 3. STRATIFICATION
• 3.1 General
• 3.1.1 Stratification is by far the most important sedimentary structure. Most, although not
all, sedimentary rocks are stratified in one way or another. There are many scales and
geometries of stratification. And stratification is certainly the single most useful aspect of
sedimentary rocks in terms of interpret-ing depositional conditions.
• 3.1.2 Stratification can be defined simply as layering brought about by deposition, the
term layering being more generally used for any arrangement of rocks in bodies with
approximately planar-tabular shape. I suppose it's obvious, but I'll say it anyway:
stratification comes about by changes in depositional conditions with time.

• 3.1.3 In dealing with stratification, there are two separate but related matters you have to
worry about:
– θ What it was about depositional conditions that changed with time to give rise to
stratification?
– θ What it is about the rock itself that makes the stratification manifest? (Changes in
composition, texture, or even other smaller-scale structures?)

• 3.1.4 Stratification is usually obvious, especially on the scale of large outcrops, but
sometimes it's subtle and hard to find, either because depositional conditions didn't vary
much or because the rocks have been messed up since, or perhaps just because the
outcrop is inadequate. Finding the stratification under such conditions is a skill that has
to be sharpened by practice.

• 3.1.5 In looking for the stratification, always think in terms of changes in composition,
texture, and/or structure from bed to bed. Failing that, look for preferred orientation of
clasts, which although not stratification in itself, often reveals the stratification.
• 3.1.6 Here's a list of things that tend to make stratification apparent to
the eye:

θ obvious differences in grain size

θ obvious differences in composition
θ color/shade differences caused by slight differences in composition
(subtle differences in underlying composition can cause even greater
color/shade differences as large ones);
θ differential weathering caused by differences in composition/texture;
these range from gross to subtle;
θ zones of larger or smaller concentration of individual components, like
pebbles or fossils in otherwise homogeneous sediment;
θ preferred orientation of nonspherical components (technically not stratifi-
cation itself, but it can reveal the stratification; often useful in unstratified
conglomerates)
• 3.2.2 With that said, I suppose I should point out that in everyday sedimen-
tological and stratigraphic usage, people commonly use the term bedding as
a synonym for stratification rather than just in its technically restricted sense.
• 3.2.3 Also, stratification is often hierarchical, in that beds commonly show
internal lamination on a much finer scale.
• 3.2.4 One of our little terminological peeves is that people sometimes use
the term lamination not just for the phenomenon but for the object, instead of
lamina. That's not good practice, and I want you to avoid it. It makes you
sound uncultured.
• 3.3 Parting
• 3.3.1 Keep clearly in mind the distinction between stratification and parting.
Parting is the tendency for stratified rocks to split evenly along certain
stratification planes. (The word is also used for the plane itself along which
parting has developed.) The approximately planar-tabular units developed
by parting are usually just called beds, but it might be better to think of them
as parting units.
• 3.3.2 There's official terminology for parting units, corresponding to that for
stratification, although it's not in as common use; see Figure 3-4.
• 3.4 Origin
• 3.4.1 Here are three major "scenarios" for the origin of stratification. These are
the broad ways loose sediments get deposited.
• 3.4.2 Quiet-fluid deposition of particles by settling: ocean bottom (plus lakes)
mainly; low-velocity currents carrying a supply of suspended sediment from
upcurrent; usually fine-grained but not always; usually thin lamination, because
deposition rate is slow relative to the slight changes in settling regime; usually
nearly or perfectly even and planar, unless later deformed. Often such
deposits are later bioturbated to the point that none of the original lamination
remains.
• 3.4.3 Deposition of particles by tractional currents: deposition onto a well
defined fluid-sediment interface during bed-load (or bed-load plus plus sus-
pended-load) transport by moderate to strong currents; stratification thick to
thin depending on nature of variations in sediment supply, currents, and
deposition rate; even stratification and cross stratification can both be
important; usually fairly coarse sediment, coarsest silt size into gravel range.
• 3.4.4 Mass deposition of coarse and fine sediment mixtures (or only fine
sediment, or rarely only coarse sediment) by sediment gravity flows (high-
concentration sediment-water mixtures flowing as a single fluid) coming to rest
without differentiation or particle-by-particle deposition; usually thick-bedded,
with little or no internal stratification.
• 4. CROSS STRATIFICATION
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.1.1 Cross stratification is stratification that is locally at some angle to the
overall stratification as a consequence of changes in the geometry of the
depositional surface during deposition. (This definition leaves some
uncertainty about what's meant by the scales of "local" and "overall".
Usually "local" is on lateral scales ranging from centimeters to hundreds of
meters.) Usually one or more beds in some part of a section show cross
stratification, which you recognize as cross stratification because the
attitude of the stratification varies from point to point within the beds, or, if
it's the same everywhere within those beds, then you can see that the
orientation is different from that of the bounding surfaces of the beds, or
the orientation is different from what you know to be the overall
stratification within the outcrop or within the local stratigraphic section.
• 4.1.2 The vertical scale of cross stratification varies from millimeters to
several meters, and the geometry is infinitely varied. Cross stratification
comes about by deposition upon a sediment surface that is locally at an
angle to the overall plane of the depositional surface; this usually but not
always involves erosion of the depositional surface as well, either prior to
or concurrent with deposition. Some terminology: small-scale cross
stratification is on scales of up to several centimeters, medium-scale cross
stratification is on scales from several centimeters to several decimeters,
and large-scale cross stratification is on scales from several decimeters to
several meters. (But as far as I know, there's nothing official or
standardized about these boundaries.)
• 4.1.3 Cross stratification varies enormously in geometry. This is in part a
reflection of the great diversity of bed configurations produced by fluid flows
over loose beds of sediment. But there's an additional factor at work here
too: some cross stratification comes about not from the movement of
individual bed forms in a train, but from solitary or isolated flow-produced
topographical elements, usually large, which usually come under the
heading of bars or deltas.
• 4.1.4 Interpretation of cross stratification is well advanced, thanks to
decades of careful field studies of cross-stratification geometry in ancient
rocks, studies of modern depositional environments, and laboratory studies
in tanks and channels. So cross stratification is probably the single most
useful tool in interpreting the physical aspects of loose-sediment
depositional environments. That's why I'm devoting what probably will seem
to you to be inordinate space in these notes. (Another reason is that cross
stratification is one of our own special fields!)
• 4.1.5 Because cross stratification is so environment-specific, it seems best
to give you only a minimum of purely descriptive terminology and
classification. I think it's better for you to get used to the various "styles" of
cross stratification, which are closely bound up with mechanics of origin,
and then deal with examples in the context of these styles. That's the way
things tend to be done these days by the people who actually work on
cross-stratified rocks.
• 4.1.6 Here's some geometrical terminology. More commonly than not,
cross-stratified deposits are arranged as packets or sets of
conformable laminae separated from adjacent sets by truncation
surfaces. A set (also called a laminaset) is a succession of two or
more conformable laminae separated from other sets (or beds without
sets) by surfaces of erosion, nondeposition, or abrupt change in
lithology. Figure 3-5 shows three common examples. In each example,
the asterisk lies within a single set. The laminae within the sets may be
planar or curving. Concave-up laminae are more common than
convex-up laminae. The orientations of the truncation surfaces are
usually different from the orientations of the laminae within the sets.
Commonly the lateral scale of the sets may be not much greater than
the vertical scale, or it may be much greater. In some cases, there are
no truncation surfaces within the cross-stratified deposit; Figure 3-6
shows a common example.
• 4.1.7 Another thing you should be thinking about is one's view of cross
stratification. Usually it's seen on a fracture surface, weathered or
unweathered, nearly normal to the overall stratification. Some cross
stratification is approximately isotropic with respect to direction in the plane
of overall stratification (the geometry of cross stratification looks about the
same in differently oriented sections), but most is anisotropic (the geometry
of cross stratification commonly looks different in differently oriented
sections normal to the overall plane of stratification), so try to see the cross
stratification on as many differently oriented planes normal to bedding as
you can, because it might look quite different depending on the direction.
Sometimes, but not often, you get to see what the cross stratification looks
like on a plane within the cross-stratified bed parallel to overall stratification.
• 4.1.8 A final note on terminology: just as with stratification in general, you
can think in terms of cross stratification as the general term, and cross-
bedding and cross-lamination according to the thickness of the strata within
the sets. People tend not to adhere rigorously to these distinctions,
however.
• 4.1.9 Often a given cross-stratified bed may represent not just one deposi-
tional event but two or more separate depositional events, each one
superimposed on the the previous one. Such beds are said to be
amalgamated. Sometimes it's easy to recognize the individual depositional
events within the amalgamated bed; the stratification within each part of the
bed can then be studied separately. But sometimes it's difficult to determine
whether or not the bed is amalgamated.
• 4.2 How Bed Forms Make Cross stratification

• 4.2.1 In general terms, the fundamental idea about bed-form-generated

cross stratification is easy to state (Figure 3-7): as bed forms of one kind or
other pass a given point on the bed, both the bed elevation and the local
bed slope change with time. Consider a short time interval during the history
of decrease and increase in bed elevation. After a temporary minimum in
bed elevation is reached, deposition of new laminae takes place for a period
of time, until a temporary maximum in bed elevation is reached. Then, as
the bed elevation decreases again, there's complete or partial erosion of the
newly deposited laminae and formation of a new truncation surface. After
the next minimum in bed elevation, another set of laminae is deposited.
• 4.2.2 The preceding paragraph is still too general to give you a concrete
idea about how moving bed forms generate cross stratification. Now I'll be
more specific. Take as an example a train of downstream-moving ripples in
unidirectional flow. (The picture would be qualitatively very similar for
dunes.) Each ripple moves slowly downstream, generally changing in size
and shape as it moves. Sediment is stripped from the upstream (stoss)
surface of each ripple and deposited on the downstream (lee) surface.

• 4.2.3 In your imagination, cut the train of ripples by a large number of

vertical sections parallel to the mean flow direction (Figure 3-8). The trough
of a ripple is best defined by the curve formed by connecting all of the low
points on these vertical sections where they cut the given trough (Figure 3-
9). This curve, which I'll unofficially call the low-point curve, is generally
sinuous in three dimensions. The low-point curve moves downstream with
the ripples, and it changes its shape as it moves, like a writhing dragon,
because trough depths and ripple speeds change with time.
• 4.2.4 As the low-point curve shifts downstream, it can be viewed as
having the effect of a cheese-slicing wire: it seems to shave off the
body of the ripple immediately downstream for removal by erosion,
and in that way it prepares an undulating floor or surface for the
deposition of advancing foresets by the ripple immediately upstream.

• 4.2.5 Depending on flow conditions and sediment size, the foreset

laminae laid down by an advancing ripple vary widely in shape, from
almost perfect planes sloping at the angle of repose to sigmoidal
curves that meet the surface of the trough downstream at a small
angle (Figure 3-10). But whatever their shape, these laminae are
always deposited directly on the erosion surface that's formed (as just
described above) by the downstream movement of the ripple trough
into which the foresets prograde.
• 4.2.9 It's significant that what's most important in determining the geometry
of this kind of cross stratification is the geometry of the bed forms in the
troughs, not near the crests. I should also point out that the height of the
sets is always less than the height of the bed forms that were responsible
for the cross stratification. If you compare the height of the cross-sets with
the height of the ripples in the dashed profile in Figure 3-14, you can see
that for low angles of climb, the set height is only a small fraction of the bed-
form height.

• 4.2.10 The larger the angle of climb, the greater the fraction of foresets
preserved. If the angle of climb of the ripples is greater than the slope angle
of the stoss side of the ripples, then laminae are preserved on the stoss
sides as well as on the lee sides, and the full profile of the ripple is
preserved (Figure 3-15). This happens when the rate of addition of new
sediment to the bed is greater than the rate at which sediment is transported
from the stoss side to the lee side of the ripple. The differences in geometry
between Figure 3-14 and Figure 3-15 seem great, but keep in mind that the
differences in environmental conditions are not large. The only difference is
in the value of the angle of climb.
• 4.2.11 The lamination produced when ripples move with a positive angle of
climb is called climbing-ripple cross stratification. Examples with angle of
climb so small that the contacts between sets are erosional (as in Figure 3-
14) might be called erosional-stoss climbing-ripple cross stratification, and
examples with angle of climb large enough for preservation of the full ripple
profile (as in Figure 3-15) might be called depositional-stoss climbing-ripple
cross stratification.

• 4.2.12 To recapitulate the important points in this section: cross stratification

is formed by the erosion and deposition associated with a train of bed forms
as the average bed elevation increases by net addition of sediment to some
area of the bed. The angle of climb of the ripples depends on the ratio of
rate of bed aggradation to speed of ripple movement. At high angles of
climb, the entire ripple profile is preserved, and there are no erosion
surfaces in the deposit. At low angles of climb, only the lower parts of
foreset deposits are preserved, and the individual sets are bounded by
erosion surfaces. The general nature of such stratification is common to
moving bed forms of all sizes, from small current ripples to extremely large
subaqueous or eolian dunes. Important differences in the details of
stratification geometry arise from differences in bed-form geometry and how
it changes with time.
• 4.3 Important Kinds of Cross stratification
• 4.3.1 Introduction
• 4.3.1.1 Here I'll present the substance of what the major kinds of cross
stratification in the sedimentary record look like. They conveniently fall into (i)
unidirectional-flow cross stratification, on a small scale corresponding to
ripples and on a larger scale corresponding to dunes, and (ii) oscillatory-flow
cross stratification. Unfortunately there's little I can say at present about
combined-flow cross stratification. I'll make a few comments about that in the
section on oscillatory-flow cross stratification.
• 4.3.2 Small-Scale Cross stratification in Unidirectional Flow
• 4.3.2.1 Small-scale cross stratification formed under unidirectional flow is
associated almost entirely with the downstream movement of current ripples.
In accordance with the discussion of how moving bed forms produce cross-
stratified deposits, discussed above, the general features of the cross-
stratification geometry depend on (i) the geometry of the ripples
themselves, as well as how that geometry changes with time as the
ripples move, and (ii) the angle of climb.
• 4.3.2.2 For small angles of climb, the general geometry of the cross-stratified
deposit is shown by the block diagram in Figure 3-16. In addition to the actual
rippled surface, Figure 3-16 shows a flow-parallel section and a flow-
transverse section perpendicular to the overall bedding. Figure 3-16 is the
real-life counterpart of Figure 3-14.
• 4.3.2.3 In sections parallel to flow (Figure 3-16) you see sets of laminae dip-
ping mostly or entirely in the same direction (which is the flow direction),
separated by truncation surfaces. The height of the sets is seldom greater
than 2-3 cm, because it's always some fraction of the ripple height, which
itself is seldom greater than 2-3 cm. The set boundaries are sinuous and
irregular, because of the changes in the ripples as they move. Sets are
commonly cut out at some point in the downstream direction by the
overlying truncation surface. This is a reflection of either (i) locally stronger
erosion by a passing ripple trough or (ii) disappearance of a given ripple as
it moved downstream, by being overtaken or absorbed by another faster-
moving ripple from upstream. New sets also appear in the down-stream
direction, reflecting the birth of a new ripple in the train of ripples.
• 4.3.2.4 In sections transverse to flow, the geometry of cross stratification is
rather different (Figure 3-16): you see nested and interleaved sets whose
lateral dimensions are usually less than something like five times the vertical
dimension. Each set is truncated by one or more truncation surfaces. These
truncation surfaces are mostly concave upward. The laminae within each
set are also mostly concave upward, but the truncation surfaces generally
cut the laminae discordantly.
• 4.3.2.5 The key to understanding this cross-stratification geometry lies in the
geometry of ripple troughs. Remember that fully developed current ripples
have strongly three-dimensional geometry, and an important element of that
three-dimensional geometry is the existence of locally much deeper hollows
or swales or depressions in ripple troughs, where the separated flow
happens to become concentrated (because of the details of the ripple
geometry upstream) and where scour or erosion is much stronger. As one
of these swales moves downstream, driven by the advancing ripple
upstream, it carves a rounded furrow or trench, oriented parallel to the flow,
which is then filled with scoop-shaped or spoon-shaped laminae which are
the foreset deposits of the upstream ripple. Eventually the resulting set of
laminae is partly or mostly or even entirely eroded by the passage of a
locally deeper swale in some later ripple trough. This accounts for both the
geometry of the sets and their irregular interleaving.

• 4.3.2.6 On the rare occasions when you're able to see a planar section
through the deposit parallel to the overall stratification, you see a geometry
which looks like Figure 3-17, which shows the truncated edges of sets of
laminae that are strongly concave downstream, separated laterally by
truncation surfaces. This has been called rib and furrow (not a very
descriptive term). It's an excellent paleocurrent indicator.
• 4.3.2.8 In sections parallel to flow, you see mostly continuous laminae
whose shapes reflect the profiles of the ripples which were moving
downstream while sediment was added to the bed. The local angles of climb
vary from place to place in the deposit, because the speeds of the ripples
are highly variable in time. So unless the overall angle of climb is very high,
there are likely to be a few discontinuous truncation surfaces, where a
particular ripple moved temporarily at a speed much greater than average.
• 4.3.2.9 In sections transverse to flow, you usually see just irregularly
sinuous laminae which reflect the changing flow-transverse profiles of the
ripples as they passed a given cross-section of the flow.
• 4.3.2.10 Remember that for intermediate angles of climb, the stratification
geometry is intermediate between the two end members presented above.
As the angle of climb increases, the density and extent of truncation
surfaces bounding the sets decreases, and the average set thickness
increases.
• 4.3.2.11 For a given sand size, current ripples in equilibrium with the flow
don't vary greatly in either size or geometry with flow velocity, so
unfortunately there's little possibility of using the details of stratification
geometry to say anything precise about the flow strength.
• 4.3.3 Large-Scale Cross stratification in Unidirectional Flow
• 4.3.3.1 Large-scale cross stratification formed under unidirectional flow is
mostly associated with the downstream movement of dunes. Again the
general features of the cross-stratification geometry depend on the
geometry of the dunes and the angle of climb.
• 4.3.3.2 Remember that dunes formed at relatively low flow velocities have a
tendency to be two-dimensional: their crests and troughs are nearly
continuous and fairly straight, and the elevations of the crests and troughs
are nearly uniform in the direction transverse to flow. On the other hand, at
relatively high flow velocities the dunes are moderately to strongly three-
dimensional, in much the same way that ripples are three-dimensional. You
should expect the geometry of cross stratification to vary greatly depending
on whether the dunes were two-dimensional or three-dimensional.
• 4.3.3.3 Three-dimensional dunes produce cross stratification that's quali-
tatively similar in geometry to the small-scale cross stratification produced
by ripples. You might reread the earlier section and apply it to the
stratification produced by three-dimensional dunes.
• 4.3.3.4 Figure 3-19 is a block diagram of cross stratification produced by
three-dimensional dunes in unidirectional flows. It shows the dune-covered
bed surface and sections perpendicular to the overall plane of stratification
and parallel and transverse to the flow direction. Most of what I said about
the analogous section in Figure 3-16 for cross stratification produced by
ripples at low angles of climb is applicable to Figure 3-19 as well. Set
thickness ranges from less than 10 cm to as much as a few meters.
• 4.3.3.5 Figure 3-20 is a corresponding block diagram of cross stratification
produced by almost perfectly two-dimensional dunes in unidirectional flows.
The stratification geometry is rather different from that in Figure 4-19: in
flow-parallel sections the sets extend somewhat farther and the set
boundaries are less sinuous, but the biggest difference is in flow-transverse
sections, where both the sets and the truncational set boundaries are much
more extensive and show much less upward concavity. This is because of
the absence of locally strong scour swales in the troughs of the dunes.

• 4.3.3.6 There's a whole spectrum of intermediate cases for which the cross-
stratification geometry is less regular than the extreme case shown in Figure
3-22 but not as irregular as in Figure 3-19.
• 4.3.3.7 In both Figure 3-19 and Figure 3-20, the angle of climb of the dunes is
very small. Dunes sometimes climb at higher angles, but that's not nearly
as common as for ripples, because it's uncommon for fairly coarse sediment
to be settling abundantly out of suspension over large areas to build up the bed
rapidly. In the very few cases I've seen, the geometry of cross stratification is
very much like that shown in Figure 3-18.

• 4.3.4 Cross stratification in Oscillatory Flow

• 4.3.4.1 Remember that in truly symmetrical oscillatory flow at low to moderate

oscillation periods and low to moderate oscillation speeds, the bed
configuration is symmetrical two-dimensional oscillation ripples. Under these
conditions, the sediment transport is also strictly symmetrical in the two flow
directions. You might expect the ripples to remain in one place indefinitely.
Then if sediment is supplied from suspension to build up the bed, symmetrical
oscillation-ripple cross stratification with vertical climb would be produced
(Figure 3-21). Although this kind of stratification is present in the sedimentary
record, it's not common, presumably because even in purely oscillatory flow
there's usually a minor degree of asymmetry of sediment transport which
causes the ripples to move slowly in one direction or the other.
• 4.3.4.3 If the ripple speed is nonzero but slow relative to aggradation rate, the
angle of climb is steep and the entire ripple profile is preserved (see second box
from the top in Figure 3-22). If the ripple speed is large relative to the aggradation
rate, ripple troughs erode into previously deposited laminae, and the stratification
shows laminae dipping in one direction only, in sets bounded by erosion surfaces
(see the third box from the top in Figure 3-22). This last type is the most common
in the sedimentary record. Note that this stratification differs only detail, and not in
general features, from low-angle climbing-ripple cross stratification produced by
ripples in unidirectional flows, discussed in the previous section. Finally, if a
preexisting bed is molded into slowly shifting oscillation ripples without any net
aggradation of the bed, the thickness of the cross-stratified deposit is equal to only
one ripple height (see the bottom box in Figure 3-22).

• 4.3.4.4 In the real world, oscillation-ripple stratification is likely to be more

complicated, because wave conditions seldom remain the same for long.
Commonly there are a large number of sets of laminae dipping more or less
randomly in both directions.
• 4.3.4.5 The origin and classification of stratification produced by oscillatory
flows at longer oscillation periods and higher oscillation velocities is much
less well understood, because there have been no studies in natural
environments in which first the bed configuration was observed while the
flow conditions were measured and then the bed was sampled to see the
resulting deposit. And until only recently there had been no studies under
laboratory conditions. Another element of complexity is that in the natural
environment the oscillatory flows are likely to be more complicated than the
regular and symmetrical bidirectional oscillatory flows that were assumed
above, and essentially nothing is known in detail about the stratification
types produced by these more complicated oscillatory flows.

• 4.3.4.6 In the face of this seemingly hopeless situation, I'll take the following
approach. I'll describe in a general way a common style of medium-scale to
large-scale cross stratification, called hummocky cross stratification,
which is generally believed to be produced by some kind of oscillatory flow,
and I'll present what evidence I can for the kinds of flows that might produce
hummocky cross stratification.
• 4.3.4.8 Note that the two normal-to-bedding faces of the block are shown to have about the same
style of stratification, and on each face there's no strongly preferred dip direction. In the rare
cases where you can make serial sections of the deposit to ascertain the entire three-dimensional
geometry of the deposit, it's clear that there's no preferred dip direction in the entire deposit. This
is the kind of stratification I call isotropic.

• 4.3.4.9 The upper surface of the block diagram in Figure 3-23 is shown to be a bedding surface
with a bed configuration that could be described as a collection of hummocks (locally positive
convex-up areas) and swales (locally negative con-cave-up areas). Sometimes, but not often, the
upper surface of a bed with hummocky cross stratification can be seen to have just this bed
geometry. The general belief is that isotropic hummocky cross stratification is produced by this
kind of bed configuration, although it's seldom possible to actually demonstrate this.

• 4.3.4.10 Very recent preliminary experiments have shown that bed configurations which in their
general features are like those just described are produced by symmetrical bidirectional
oscillatory flows at long periods and high oscillation velocities. This suggests that at least some
isotropic hummocky cross stratification is produced by such flows. But it also seems likely that
more complex oscillations with more than one oscillatory component would also produce
qualitatively similar bed configurations and therefore similar cross stratification. Much more work
needs to be done before the origin of hummocky cross stratification is well understood.

• 4.3.4.11 This brings us to the problem of combined-flow cross stratification. Unfortunately there's
an almost complete lack of observational information on the origin of combined-flow cross
stratification, so we have no actual models to guide interpretations. Up to now the recognition of
combined-flow cross stratification has been a strictly deductive matter.
• 4.3.4.12 It seems convenient to think separately about the relatively small combined-
flow ripples produced under combinations of relatively low oscillatory and unidirectional
flow velocities, on the one hand, and the relatively large combined-flow ripples produced
under combinations of relatively high oscillatory and unidirectional flow velocities, on the
other hand.
• 4.3.4.13 When the combinations of oscillation period and oscillation velocity are such
that in purely oscillatory flow the ripples would be at about the same scale as current
ripples, there's a kind of coherence in the combined-flow ripples: they're on the same
scale as unidirectional-flow ripples, but more nearly two-dimensional. Actual
experiments indicate that only a very small unidirectional component is needed to make
such ripples noticeably asymmetrical.
• 4.3.4.14 But for very short periods or very long periods, when the ripples that would be
produced in purely oscillatory flow are much smaller or much larger than current ripples,
the situation is more complicated, because in combined flows the bed configuration
wants to be at two separate scales, and there's a complicated interaction between the
two differing scales. There have been no detailed studies of the stratification produced
under these combined-flow conditions.
• 4.3.4.15 The large oscillation ripples in fine sediments which are known to be produced
at long periods and high velocities become asymmetrical in the presence of even fairly
weak unidirectional components, and the stratification they produce during bed
aggradation is probably what many workers recognize as anisotropic hummocky cross
stratification. But detailed interpretations are a matter for the future.
• 4.3.4.16 Also still unstudied is the geometry of cross stratification produced when
unidirectional-flow dunes are subjected to a nonnegligible oscillatory component. This
situation must be important in natural environments, but systematic studies have yet to
be made in either the field or the laboratory.
• 4.3.5 Eolian Cross stratification

• 4.3.5.1 So far our account of cross stratification has implicitly been directed
toward subaqueous bed configurations. Everyone knows that the shifting of
eolian dunes produces large-scale cross stratification too. To first order,
eolian dune cross stratification is similar in gross aspects to subaqueous
dune cross stratification. But behind the gross similarity are real differences.
These differences are simply a consequence of the differing details of
geometry of the dunes themselves, and of the sediment transport over
them.
• θ Eolian cross stratification tends to have a "swoopy" look (pardon the
looseness of terminology here) that's difficult to pin down in detail. We think
that that look reflects the tendency for the troughs of eolian dunes to be
filled by plastering of new trough laminae not just on the mean-upcurrent
side, as is usually the case in subaqueous cross stratification, but on the
lateral and mean-downcurrent sides as well.
• θ Eolian cross stratification is more likely to show greater dispersion of dip
directions of cross-sets, because of the greater variability of wind directions
than of subaqueous current directions. (But this is not as strong a tendency
as you might think, because most of the major eolian sand bodies preserved
in the sedimentary record were probably produced in sand seas swept by
winds fairly constant in direction.)
• θ The nature of the lamination in eolian cross-sets tends to be different from that
in subaqueous cross-sets. The three basic kinds of laminae in cross-sets are:

— grain-flow laminae, produced by the downslope movement of grain flows to

iron out the oversteepening of the foreset slope caused by deposition at the
brink

— grain-fall laminae, produced by the rain of sand grains onto the foreset slope
after they are carried across the brink in saltation

— translatent laminae, produced by the movement and very-low-angle climb of

ripples on sand surfaces that are undergoing net aggradation
The first two kinds of laminae are common to both subaerial
and subaqueous cross-sets, but they are much more distinctive and better
differentiated in sub-aerial deposits. Translatent laminae are specific to subaerial
deposits, because in subaqueous environments the scale and movement of
ripples in dune-lee envi-ronments is such as to produce recognizable small-
scale cross-lamination rather than laminae so thin that the cross-stratified nature
is undetectible, as in the eolian case.
• 4.3.6 Cross stratification Not Produced by Climbing Bed Forms 4.3.6.1
After all of the foregoing voluminous material on how to deal with cross
stratification produced by trains of repetitive bed forms that climb at some
angle owing to net aggradation of the bed, it's important to point out here
that not all cross stratification is produced by bed forms climbing at some
angle—although we think it's fair to say that most of the cross stratification
you see is indeed formed in that way.

• 4.3.6.2 One case in point is pretty obvious, and has been touched upon in
the earlier part of this chapter: a train of flow-transverse bed forms is
produced by a neutral flow (by "neutral" we mean that there's neither net
aggradation or net degradation) over a loose sed-iment bed, then the flow
quits, and later the train of bed forms is mantled or draped by sediment
deposited in such a way as not to disturb that underlying train of bed forms
(by fallout without traction, for the most part). This kind of cross stratification
might be termed, unofficially, single-bed-form-train cross stratification.
It's common in both oscillatory flow and unidirectional flow. Depending on
the thickness of movable sediment the flow has to operate on, and the size
of the bed forms the flow wants to make, the train of bed forms may be
starved (Figure 3-25A), full (Figure 3-25B), or starting to climb up one
another (Figure 3-25C).
• 4.3.6.4 In a situation like that shown in Figure 3-26, there's also the problem
of whether the full height of the dune is preserved. You might find features
at the upper surface of the cross-set that gives evidence of its having been
the exposed upper surface of a dune, like superimposed smaller bed forms.
Although that's not foolproof, it would suggest strongly that the dune was not
eroded or shaved off by a later strong current after its own driving current
ceased.

• 4.3.6.5 Finally, cross stratification can be formed by the progradation of the

sloping surface of an isolated element of positive relief, like a sand bar or
shoal or delta body. Scales of such features can range up to very large.
Deciding between this situation and the one described above (a small part
of a single train of dunes) would be impossible without a degree of lateral
control not usually available in outcrop.
• 5. PLANAR STRATIFICATION
• 5.1 There is not as much to say about planar stratification as there is about
cross stratification—because its geometry in inherently simpler! That’s not to
say that it is not important: there is at least as much planar stratification in
particulate sediments and sedimentary rocks (conglomerates, sandstones,
siltstones, shales, and limestones) as there is cross stratification, and even
more in gravels and conglomerates, in particular. Planar stratification is also
common in carbonate rocks, although less so than in siliciclastics. It is
unfortunately true, however, that the possibilities for interpretation of
depositional conditions are less abundant for planar stratification than for cross
stratification.
• 5.2 We need to make a distinction here between planar stratification in which
an entire bed, which might be as much as some meters thick, has an overall
planar geometry, in the sense that the lower and upper surfaces of the bed are
planar (the geometry of such a bed could also be described as tabular), on the
one hand (this might best be called planar bedding), and planar stratification
within such an overall planar–tabular bed, on the other hand (Figure 3-27).
The latter kind of planar stratification usually comprises strata that are
sufficiently thin as to be called laminae, in which case we talk of planar
lamination, or a planar-laminated bed. (Keep in mind the terminological
distinction between beds and laminae.)
• 5.3 What is the origin of planar lamination?
• In many cases, especially in fine siliciclastic sediments and sedimentary
rocks, it must certainly be the outcome of deposition by fallout without
traction in which the nature of the settling material varies, for some reason,
with time. The differences might be in particle size or in composition. Such
lamination is commonly way down in the submillimeter thickness range.
Many mudrocks and shales show such planar lamination.
• Planar stratification is also common in successions of interbedded thin (on a
centimeter or even a millimeter scale) event siltstones or very fine
sandstones and “background” (that is, fallout-without-traction) mudrocks or
shales. You will learn more about such event beds later. In brief, an event
stratum (usually referred to as an event bed) is any stratum that was
deposited by a brief event, on a geologically instantaneous time scale, by
such things as turbidity currents, debris flows, river floods, or shallow-
marine storms.
• In many well-sorted coarse siltstones and sandstones, the planar lamination
is the outcome of fallout with traction or of differential transport (See the
discussion of modes of deposition at the end of the preceding chapter.) How
might we know that? Because of its commonly close association with ripple
and dune stratification In what seems to be a flow environment in which the
flow strength is decreasing with time (from plane-bed transport to ripples or
dunes).
• 5.4 In interpreting planar lamination, there is a kind of “awkward range” in particle
size in which the size is not fine enough for a confident interpretation of fallout
without traction but not coarse enough for a clear interpretation of a strong flow. To
put that another way, with increasing particle size it becomes less and less likely that
the flow could be carrying enough sediment in suspension to form a planar-
laminated deposit just by fallout without traction—because the settling velocity
increases rapidly with particle size, thereby cutting down the possible distance over
which suspension fallout can occur.
• 5.5 In planar lamination in sands and sandstones, the differences in particle
characteristics from lamina to lamina are usually subtle, even to the point at which it
takes special observational techniques (like x-radiography of thin slabs cut normal to
stratification) even to detect its presence. In some cases, slightly varying
concentrations of dark particles (heavy minerals; scraps of organic matter) highlight
the lamination; usually, however, there are only slight differences in mean size
and/or sorting. Such differences are often detectable on a fresh sediment surface but
become accentuated by weathering of a rock surface or by etching of an
unconsolidated sediment surface by drying by the wind.
• 5.6 For a long time the origin of the slight differences in texture in planar-laminated
sandstones was poorly understood. Laboratory experiments in recent years,
however, have revealed that much if not most such planar lamination is generated
by the downstream movement of very low-amplitude bed waves (akin to very low,
shingle-like dunes) on an almost planar transport surface.
• 6. SOLE MARKS

• 6.1 Sole marks are another important kind of sedimentary structure, less common than
cross stratification. Sole marks are geometrical features produced on a sediment bed
by erosion by a strong current (flute marks), or by mechanical disruption of the bed by
large objects carried by a strong current (tool marks).
• 6.2 The line between bed configurations and sole marks is not entirely sharp, but with
sole marks we're dealing with a short-lived current acting upon a semico-hesive bed,
usually of mud. This is usually a sediment gravity flow in a moder-ately deep marine
environment (if you mention sole marks to most soft-rock geol-ogists they'll think of
turbidites), but strong currents in other situations can make sole marks as well.
• 6.3 Strong currents are known to produce erosional flutes with characteris-tic
geometries on semicohesive mud beds. The flutes range in scale from just a few
centimeters across to giants a few meters across. They are narrow, steep-sided, and
often curled at the upcurrent end, and wider and shallower downstream. They thus
make excellent paleocurrent indicators. Their origin was first deduced from the ancient
record, but they have since been reproduced beautifully in the laboratory.
• 6.4 Important: you almost always see sole marks in negative relief, because usually the
strong current that makes the marks later deposits a bed of sand (or even gravel). After
burial, lithification, uplift, and erosion, what remains for you to see, usually in outcrops
with steep dips, is the underside of the sandstone bed, the shale having been
weathered away. For this reason you often see the term flute cast (although curiously,
one never sees the term "tool cast"!).
• 6.5 I won't illustrate sole marks here, because I'll have slides for you later. See also
Potter and Pettijohn, Atlas and Glossary of Primary Sedimentary Structures.
• 7. SOFT-SEDIMENT DEFORMATION
• 7.1 Introduction

• 7.1.1 The only other kind of sedimentary structure I'll talk about here is soft-
sediment deformation, also called (less felicitously) penecontemporaneous
deformation: deformation, usually of the continuous sort involving folding
and contortions, that developed long before the sediment was lithified. One
often sees mildly to grossly deformed strata, on scales of centimeters to a
few meters, that by various kinds of evidence must have happened only
shortly after burial, when the sediment was still effectively noncohesive and
buried less than a few meters. Some deformation can be shown to have
happened even earlier—during, not after, deposition.

• 7.1.2 There are several common styles of soft-sediment deformation, and a

thorough analysis of the mechanics involved would take a lot of time and
space. All I'll do here is point out what must be the principal underlying
reasons for the occurrence of soft-sediment deformation, and some brief
description and illustration of the most common kinds.
• 7.1.3 Sediments ranging from coarse silt size up into the gravel range can
be viewed as a packed framework of grains in mutual contact. Usually,
however, grain-by-grain depositional mechanisms are such that the resulting
deposit is not packed as closely as possible: the porosity is greater, and the
number of grains contacts smaller, than the ultimate values attainable by
rearrangement of the grains. So any kind of disturbance to the sediment
bed, like an earthquake, can cause a sudden repacking of the grains: the
grains fall into a new, closer packing in a kind of wave that sweeps through
a more or less large volume of the sediment. As this happens, the repacking
sediment finds itself suffused with excess pore water, which can do nothing
but drain more or less slowly outward by flowing through the surrounding
porous sediment. While there is excess pore water, the sediment is in a
liquefied state, in that it is not locked into packing by being in contact with
surrounding grains. This process is called liquefaction. Especially in finer
sediments, like silts and very fine sands, the permeability is so small, owing
to the smallness of the pore passageways, that the sediment remains in a
liquefied state for some time—long enough to deform under the influence of
whatever small anisotropic stress field happens to be present within the
sediment.
• 7.2 Styles of Soft-Sediment Deformation Loading. Sometimes the
stratification in a sedimentary sequence is gravita-tionally unstable, in that a
given bed has a greater bulk density than the bed un-derlying it. Then, if the
sediment becomes mobilized as discussed above, there is tendency for the
material of the overlying bed to sink down into the underlying bed and
(usually more diffusely) for the material of the underlying bed to rise up into
the overlying material. This phenomenon is called loading (Figure 3-28). In
mild cases, there is just some local and partial downward motion of the
overlying bed into the underlying bed, especially in places where the contact
between the two beds is convex downward owing to deposition. Loading of
this kind is usually seen where a water-rich sand bed was deposited over a
semicohesive mud bed. Sole markings, for example, are often accentuated,
sometimes grossly so, by later loading.
• Ball-and-pillow structure. In more extreme examples of loading, whole
masses of the overlying bed sink down into the underlying material. Usually
these masses end up with concave-up stratification that is terminated
abruptly around the margins of the sunken mass. This called ball-and-pillow
structure (Figure 3-29).
• Slump folding. Another kind of soft-sediment deformation is slump folding
(Figure 3-30). When sediment on a slope is liquefied, it tends to flow or slide
down the slope, even if the slope angle is only a few degrees. Various
patterns of folding develop, with downslope vergence of the folds. The folds
are characteristically tight, often even isoclinal and recumbent. Scales range
up to some meters. Sometimes these folds are truncated by erosion and
overlain by very similar sedimentary material, emphasizing the slight depth
of burial of material when it is deformed. Such erosion is presumptive
evidence of penecontemporaneity (but you have to make sure that what
you're thinking is an erosion surface isn't instead a gently dipping local fault
associated with the deformation!).
• Convolute lamination.
• Finally, another style of soft-sediment folding, called convolute lamination, is
characteristic of beds of fine sand, up to a meter thick, deposited rapidly by
such events as turbidity currents (Figure 3-31). The beds have planar lower
and also upper contacts, but the bed is internally folded into broad synclines
and sharp to dome-shaped or even mushroom-shaped anti-clines, which
usually die out upward to planarity at the upper contact. Sometimes it can
even be demonstrated that the folding developed concurrently with the de-
velopment and downcurrent movement of ripples on the rapidly aggrading
transport surface.

• 8. OTHER SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES

• Aside from stratification, sole marks, and soft-sediment deformation, there

are many other kinds of sedimentary structures. In this final “wastebasket”
section, I’ll mention a few other primary sedimentary structures. Beyond
that, there are biogenic sedimentary structures (trace fossils), which I will
describe in more detail in a later chapter.
• desiccation cracks: Also called, less precisely mud cracks, these are
tension cracks or fractures that extend downward from a bed top into the
sediment below. They are arranged in a network, which in some cases
comprises nearly regular hexagons or rectangles but more commonly are of
irregular geometry. Their characteristic spacing ranges from a few
centimeters to many decimeters in extreme cases. They commonly taper
downward to a sharp lower end, at depths of centimeters to as much as a
few decimeters in extreme cases. It is clear that the form during shrinkage
consequent upon drying of the a surficial layer of unconsolidated sediment.
The sediment can shrink vertically with no cracking, but lateral shrinkage
causes tensile stresses that result in the cracking. The significance of
desiccation cracks is the evidence they give of subaerial exposure of the
sediment surface—that is, emergence of a previously submerged
depositional surface. They can also be a top-and-bottom indicator,
inasmuch as they commonly taper downward, are capped above by a later-
deposited bed, and are filled with that same later-deposited sediment
(Figure 3-31). In some cases, when a thin bed is undergoes desiccation
cracking, the individual segments of the cracked bed curl upward, and the
later-deposited sediment insinuates itself beneath the up-curled edges
(Figure 3-32).
• Raindrop impressions: When a soft, moist surface of freshly deposited
sediment is exposed to a brief, light shower of large raindrops, tiny craters,
circular in outline and with a slightly raised rim, are imprinted upon the
sediment surface. If they survive long enough to be buried by later
deposition, they can be preserved intact in the sedimentary record Figure 3-
33: Shrock, R.R., 1948, Sequence in Layered Rocks: McGraw-Hill, 507 p.
(p. 142, Figure 141). As with desiccation cracks (although they are much
less common), they give excellent evidence of subaerial emergence and
also of tops and bottoms.

• Graded bedding: If the particle size in a siliciclastic bed varies

systematically upward through the bed, the bed is said to be graded. (In a
sense, graded bedding lies somewhere between being a texture and a
structure, but because I did not mention it in Chapter 1, I’m mentioning it
here.) If the particle size decreases upward, the bed is said to be normally
graded; if the particle size increases upward, the bed is said to be
reversely graded or inversely graded (both terms are in use).
• The term “normal” probably arose because of the belief, commonly but not
always justified, that in the normal course of a depositional event the
strength of the depositing flow, and thereby the particle size of the sediment
being deposited, decreases. Accounting for reverse grading is not as
simple: one might appeal to a strengthening flow, or, alternatively, to
collapse and immobilization of a highly concentrated flow in which, for
dynamical reasons that remain unclear, the particle size in the moving
sediment–water mixture increases upward. Some workers have appealed to
a simple kinematic effect that might account for reverse grading: the kinetic
sieve effect, whereby finer particles can find their way relatively easily
downward among coarser particles but coarser particles cannot find their
way easily down among finer particles. A distinction can be made between
two kinds of grading: distribution grading, whereby the entire frequency
distribution of the sediment shifts toward a finer or a coarser mean size, and
coarse-tail grading, whereby the frequency distribution of the main mass of
the sediment stays about the same but the percentage of sediment in the
coarse tail of the distribution changes significantly.