MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF SCUENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF APLLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY,MINERAL AND PETROLEUM

STUDIES

SEDIMENTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY PEEM 2101

ORINGA WILLIAMS APOLLO

2019/PEM/124/PS.
1. Flaser bedding; This a type of ripple bedding in which thin streaks
of mud occur between sets of cross-laminated or ripple laminated
sandy or silty sediments

Lenticular bedding; This is a structure formed by interbedded mud

and ripple cross-laminated sand in which the ripples or sand lenses
are discontinuous and isolated in both vertical and horizontal
direction

2. Hummocky cross stratification; Hummocky cross stratification is

characterized by undulating sets of cross lamiae that are both
concave up and convex up. The cross beds sets cut gently into each
other with curved erosion surfaces. It occurs typically in fine
sandstone to cause silstone that commonly contains abundant mica
and fine carbonaceous plant debris. Hummocky cross stratification
has not yet been reported in modern environment but has occurred
in ancient strata.
3. Convolute bedding and lamination; Convolute bedding is a structure
formed by complex folding of beds into irregular, generally small
scale anticlines and synclines. It is commonly but not necessarily
confined to a single sedimentation unit and the strata above and
below. This bed may show little evidence of deformation. Convolute
bedding is most common in fine sands and silty sand and the lamiae
can typically be traced through the folds.

4. Load and flame structures; Flame structures are flamed-shaped

tongues of mud that project upward into an overlying layers which is
commonly sandstone , the crest of some sandstone are bent over or
overturned, generally overturned to all point in the same direction.
 Flame structures are commonly associated with other structures
caused sediment loading. They are probably caused mainly by
loading of water saturated mud layers which are less dense than
overlying sands and consequently squeezed upwards into the sand
layers. The orientation overturned crest suggests that loading maybe
accompanied by some horizontal movement between mud and sand
bed.

5. Ball-and-pillow structures; Ball and pillow structures are found in

the lower part of sandstone bed less commonly in limestone beds
that overlie shales. They consist of hemispherical or kidney shaped
masses of sandstones or limestone that show internal laminations.
The balls and pillow may remain connected to the overlying bed or
completely isolated from bed in the underlying mud. They are
believed to be formed by foundering and breakup of semi
consolidated lining sediments .
6. Synsedimentary folds and faults; The term slip structures has been
applied to structures produced by periecontemporaneous
deformation resulting from movement and displacement of
unconsolidated sediments. Slump structures may involve many
sedimentation units and they are commonly faulted. Their thickness
have a range from 1m to more than 50m. slump structures typically
occur in mudstones and sandy shales and less commonly in
sandstones, limestone and evaporates.
7. Dish and pillar structures; Dish structures are thin, dark colored
sub-horizontal flat to concave upward clayey laminations that occur
principally in sandstone and siltstone units. The laminations are
only a few millimeters thick.Pillar structures generally occur in
association with dish structures, pillars are vertical to near vertical
cross cutting column and sheets of structureless or swirled sand that
cut through either massive or laminated sands that commonly
contain dish structures and convolute lamination

8. Channels; Are structures that show a u-shaped or v-shaped in cross

section and cut across earlier formed bedding and lamination. They
maybe formed by erosion, principally by currents but in some cases
by mass movements. Channels maybe filled with sediments that
texturally different from the beds they truncate. They also occur in
turbidities sediments where the long dimensions of the channels
 beds to be oriented parallel to current direction as shown by other
directional structures.

9. Scour-and-fill structures; Are similar to channels but are commonly

smaller, they consist of small filled assymetrical troughs a few cm to
few meters in size with in size with long axes that point down
current and that commonly have a steep upcurrent slope and a
more gentle downcurrent slope. They may either be filed with
coarser or fined grained materials than the substrate. They are
common in sandy Sediments, formed by results of scours of
currents and subsequent backfilling as current velocity decreases.
10. Markings generated by erosion and deposition; Erosional sole
markings are actually formed by a two stage process that involve
both erosion deposition and deposition, first a cohesive fine
sediments bottom is eroded by some mechanism to produce
depressions. Due to cohesiveness of the sediments, the grooves
maybe preserved for long enough to be filled in and buried during
subsequent deposition. After burial and lithification and positive
relief is left attached to the base of the overlying bed, they are
common on the soles of turbidite sandstone and also present in
sedimentary rocks deposited in other environment.

11. Markings generated by deformation; Load cast, These are

swellings ranging from slight bulges deep or shallow rounded sacks.
They commonly occur on soles of sandstones that overlie mudstone
or shales and tend to cover the entire loading surface. Load casts do
not display a preferred orientation with respect to current direction.
They are formed by deformation uncompacted hydroplastic mud
beds owing to unequal loading by overlying layers.
12)Ichnofacies; This is the grouping of trace fossils in
paleoenvironmental studies, it describes the association of
trace fossils that are recurrent in time and space and that
reflect environmental conditions such as water depth, salinity,
and the nature of substrate in or on which they are formed.
Fundamentally, ichnofacies are sedimentary facies defined on
the basis of trace fossils, and each ichnofacies may include
several ichnogenera. Sedimentologists are particularly
interested in the Skolithos, Cruziana, Nerites, and Zoophycus
ichnofacies, which have the greatest potential for interpreting
ancient marine environmental conditions. Trace fossils are
important paleoecological indicators; however, they are not
infallible paleodepth indicators.
Reference; (Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy by Boggs
Sam)