Bahria University Karachi Definition: These are the structures that are formed by the sediment layers in the way they are deposited over each other. Classified on two approaches, one is morphologic, the other genetic. A purely morphologic classification is rather artificial and leads to grouping of unrelated structures. Genetic classification group’s structures according to the process involved in their formation, such as, biogenetic, hydrodynamic or rheologic. Importance of Sedimentary Structure: Study of sedimentary structures is important because they are 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 are much more useful than textural things like grain-size distribution and grain shape. Primarystructures Secondary structures Definition: They are also known as Pre- depositional structures. The structures formed during deposition without any forces applied. Definition: They are also known as Post- depositional structures. The structures formed after deposition with some forces applied. Physical Chemical Biogenic Massive bedding: A thick bed which is structure less. Progradation is an example of it’s depositional environment Massive bedding Uses: Shows the depositional environment changed from a regularly repeating depositional system to one with very little change over time. Graded bedding: It is bedding in which the particles are sorted according to density, size and shape. Graded bedding types: Normal Grading: If the particle size decreases upward, the bed is said to be normally graded. Reversely Graded: If the particle size increases upward, the bed is said to be reversely graded or inversely graded. fluvial:Diagram illustrating the formation of a graded bed (turbidite). Slope failure produces turbulent suspension that moves/accelerates downslope. Once it reaches the flat deep sea regions, it slows down due to friction, and gradually the sediment settles out of suspension. Larger grain sizes settle out first, and then successively smaller ones. Use:indicator of upward and downward direction in deposition Can be useful for mapping purpose Can also be useful for marking top and bottom of strata. Ripple Marks: Wavy feature formed by wind, wave or current. Streamlines lie parallel to a flat bed but where there is an irregularity such as a step in the bed caused by an accumulation of grains, the streamlines converge and there is an increased transport rate. Ripple Marks types: Asymmetrical definition: These are created a one way current( e.g. river) or the wind ( e.g. desert).This create ripple with still pointed crests and rounded troughs, it inclined in the direction of the current. Current ripples do not form in sediment coarser than 0.6 mm in diameter (coarse sand). Current ripples can develop in almost any environment river, delta, shoreline, offshore shelf and deep sea. • On the basis of shape, three types of current ripple are common: straight-crested, sinuous or undulatory, and linguoid ripples Wind ripples and dunes: These are asymmetric structures like current ripples. Wind ripples typically have long, straight, parallel crests with bifurcations like waveformed ripples. Ripple Marks types: Symmetric definition: They are formed by two way current, often found on beaches. They are wave dominating. Nearly pointed crest and rounded trough and it doesn’t inclined in the direction of the wave. non- cohesive sediment, medium silt to coarse sand grades, and they are typically symmetrical in shape. Tidalenvironment and eolin environment. Use: direction of the flow of air or water Moreover it also tells the stregnth of wind or water. Cross bedding: It is formed on inclined surface during deposition by crossing a bed to another bed. The set height is generally greater than 6 cm and the individual cross-beds are many millimeters to 1 cm or more in thickness. Most cross-stratification arises from the down current migration of ripples, dunes and sand-waves when sediment is moved up the stoss side and then avalanches down the lee-side of the structure. Foresets- steeply dipping parts of the cross-strata, have either angular or tangential contacts with horizontal. Bottom sets- The lower less steeply dipping parts. Cross bedding: Common two types are, Tabular and wedge cross-bedding consists of mostly planar cross-beds which have an angular contact with the basal surface of the set. On the bedding surface, planar cross-beds are seen as straight lines. Trough cross-beds usually have tangential bases, and in bedding-plane view the cross-beds have a nested, curved appearance. Use:The inclination of the cross-beds indicates the transport direction and the current flow (from left to right in our diagram).The style and size of cross bedding can be used to estimate current velocity, and orientation of cross-beds allows determination direction of paleoflow. Flaser bedding: It is a bedding in which high energy environment is involved which forms a bedding pattern in which sand is a dominating layer which is later infilled by a mud layer. These structures often are considered to form mostly in tidally influenced environments. Lenticular: the bedding which is opposite to flaser bedding in which mud is the dominating layer and a thin layer of sand deposited at trough. Its bedding display is a 'lens-like' shape. Formed during periods of slack water, mud suspended in the water is deposited on top of small formations of sand once the water's velocity has reached zero. They are commonly found in high-energy environments such as the intertidal and supratidal zones. Geologists use lenticular bedding to show evidence of tidal rhythm, tidal currents and tidal slack, in a particular environment. Convolute: Convolute bedding forms when complex folding and crumpling of beds or laminations occur. Beds of fine sand, up to a meter thick, deposited rapidly by such events as turbidity currents. 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. The most common places for Convolute bedding to materialize are in deep water basins with turbidity currents, rivers, deltas, and shallow-marine areas with storm impacted conditions. This is because these environments have high deposition rates, which allows the sediments to pack loosely Solemarks : Erosional marks formed by scouring of bed by unidirectional flows. Forms in marine environment, This is usually a sediment gravity flow in a moderately deep marine environment but strong currents in other situations can make sole marks as well. Used for paleo flow direction. Sole Marks types: Flute Casts: Geometrical features produced on a sediment bed by erosion by a strong current. Flutes are heel-shaped hollows, scoured into mud bottoms. Each hollow is generally infilled by sand, contiguous with the overlying bed. As the current velocity declines, flute erosion ceases and the hollows are buried beneath a bed of sand. Formed in shallow marine environments. Uses of Flute Casts: Indicators of turbidites, shallow marine and non-marine environments. Tool Marks: By mechanical disruption of the bed by large objects carried by a strong current. Tool marks are erosional bottom structures. They are irregular in shape, both in plan and cross-section, though they are roughly oriented parallel with the paleocurrent fluvial deposits and marine storm deposits They are valuable indicators of paleocurrent direction and also give some information about the nature of the clay bottom and the sediment transport mechanism operating in the flow that deposited the overlying sand. Groove Marks: They are long, thin, and straight erosional marks. Contains mud and overlain by sand. Few millimeters deep or wide, but they may continue uninterrupted for a meter of more. They are developed in downcurrent situation than flutes. groove mark A linear groove, cut in a muddy substrate by the dragging of an object through the sediment by flowing water. The orientation of the groove will be parallel to the current direction. Subsequent infilling of the groove by sediment will result in a groove cast being preserved on the base of the overlying bed. Balls and Pillows: In more extreme loading, whole masses of the overlying bed sink down into the underlying material. Masses end up with concave-up stratification that is terminated abruptly around the margins of the sunken mass. This called ball-and-pillow structure earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, or meteoric impacts can create these formations. Definition: These structures are formed by the chemical disruption of the sediments. Types: Solution Structures: Stylolites Mud cracks Vugs Accretionary Structures: Nodules Concretions Crystal aggregates Veinlets Color Banding Stylolites: Consisting of a series of relatively small, alternating, interlocked, tooth like columns of stone; it is common in limestone, marble, and similar rock. Insoluble minerals, such as clays, pyrite and oxides, remain within the stylolites and make them visible. They occur most commonly in homogeneous rocks, carbonates, cherts, sandstones, but they can be found in certain igneous rocks and ice. Their size vary from microscopic contacts between two grains (microstylolites) to large structures up to 20 m in length and up to 10 m in amplitude in ice. Stylolites usually form parallel to bedding, because of overburden pressure. Formed by the result of chemical solution by groundwater circulating through semi- consolidated or consolidated, hardened rock. Mud cracks: These structures form when the clay-rich sediments found in muds dry and shrink. As the sediment shrinks crack begin to form in the sediment creating polygonal patterns called mud cracks. Mud cracks form in any environment that allows for the wetting and subsequent drying of sediment such as marshes, seasonal rivers, or lake shores. Use: They indicate that the mud accumulated in shallow water that periodically dried up. Also tells us about the environment whether it is arid or semi arid. Vugs: They are small to medium-sized cavities inside rock that may be formed through a variety of processes. Most commonly cracks and fissures opened by tectonic activity (folding and faulting) are partially filled by quartz, calcite, and other secondary minerals. Vugs may also result when mineral crystals or fossils inside a rock matrix are later removed through erosion or dissolution processes, leaving behind irregular voids. Fine crystals are often found in vugs where the open space allows the free development of external crystal form. Nodules: In sedimentology and geology, a nodule is small, irregularly rounded knot, mass, or lump of a mineral or mineral aggregate that typically has a contrasting composition, such as a pyrite nodule in coal, a chert nodule in limestone, or a phosphorite nodule in marine shale, from the enclosing sediment or sedimentary rock. Minerals that typically form nodules include calcite, chert, apatite (phosphorite), anhydrite, and pyrite. Concretions: A concretion is a hard, compact mass of matter formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur. There is an important distinction to draw between concretions and nodules. Concretions are formed from mineral precipitation around some kind of nucleus while a nodule is a replacement body. Color Banding: They are formed in sedimentary rocks when some variation occur in the mineral composition or due to the cementing material present in the rock. Liesegang bands are colored bands of cement observed in sedimentary rocks that typically cut-across bedding. These secondary sedimentary structures exhibit bands of minerals that are arranged in a regular repeating pattern. Frequent occurrence in sedimentary rocks, rings composed of iron oxide can also occur in permeable igneous and metamorphic rocks that have been chemically weathered. Biogenic sedimentary structures: Biogenic structures result from bioturbation, the post-depositional disturbance of sediments by living organisms. This can occur by the organisms moving across the surface of sediment or burrowing into the first few centimeters. Tracksand trails: These features result from organisms moving across the sediment as they walk, crawl, or drag their body parts through the sediment. Molds:Reproduction of the inside or outside surface of a living thing.
Cast : Duplicate of the original organism;
usually formed by replacement of inside of living thing Crawling traces: trails, uncomplicated pattern linear Grazing traces: more complicated surface trails, symmetrical or ordered pattern. Resting traces: impression of where animal rested during life (but not a fossil mold). Dwelling structures: simple to complex burrow systems, burrows can be lined or small ball of mass. Feeding structures: simple to complex burrow systems commonly with well organized and defined branching pattern indicating systematic reworking of sediment. Burrow Marks: Any organism that burrows into soft sediment can disturb the sediment and destroy many of the structures. If burrowing is not extensive, the holes made by such organisms can later become filled with water that deposits new sediment in the holes. Such burrow marks can be excellent top and bottom indicators. Boring : A boring is any biogenic structure that involves erosion of an already consolidated substrate by an organism; the process of forming a boring by an organism is bioerosion. Bioturbation: One of the agents of organic weathering, bioturbation is the disturbance of the soil or sediment by living things. Bioturbation aids the penetration of air and water and loosens sediment Stromatolites: They are organically formed, laminated structures composed of fine silt or clay-size sediment or, more rarely, sand-size sediment. • Most ancient stromatolites occur in limestones however, have also been reported in siliciclastic sediments. They are organosedimentary structures formed largely by the trapping and binding activities of blue-green algae The laminated structure forms because fine sediment is trapped in the very fine filaments of algal mats.