JOHN CLARK Dept. Research and Devel., Blac\ Hills Clay Products Co., Belle Fourche, S. Da\.
Field Interpretation of Red Beds
Abstract: Seven different types of red beds, with
different paleogeographic interpretations, are recog-
nized in the field: (1) shale-pebble conglomerates,
with red color inherited from pre-existing red beds;
(2) red clay conglomerates, with red color derived
from laterites in the source area; (3) variegated red
beds, developed in fluvial deposits forming under
equable climates with seasonal rainfall; (4) cinna-
mon red beds, probably formed in shallow-water
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . .
Classification of red beds
General statement .
Shale-pebble conglomerates
Red clay conglomerates and associated mudstones
Variegated red beds
Cinnamon red beds
Brick red beds
Pastel red beds
Spattered red beds
INTRODUCTION
Various efforts have been made to interpret
red beds for more than fifty years. Practically
all the earlier ones assumed that red beds are a
single discrete phenomenon ascribable to a
single assemblage of controlling conditions.
More recently, studies of continental Tertiary
sediments by Van Houten (1948), studies of
marine Permian sediments by Swineford (1955),
and theoretical studies by Krynine (1949) have
proceeded on the assumption that more than
one environment might produce red beds.
This paper is based upon the author's
observations of sediments found mostly in the
United States, but some in Asia, and ranging in
age from Precambrian to Recent. Pre-Devonian
red beds are not included in this study, because
the absence of a general vegetational cover
during earlier times would alter earth-surface
chemistry quite unpredictably. Red limestones
and bedded iron ores are omitted, first, because
they are so distinctive as to be not germane to
the problem, and second, because the author's
acquaintance with them is limited.
The logic of this paper is simple. Assuming
Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 73, p. 423-428, 1 fig., April 1962
423
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marine environments of wide areal extent; (5)
brick red beds, littoral and deltaic facies of cin-
namon red beds; (6) pastel red beds, a sharply de-
fined facies of unknown origin; (7) spattered red
beds, in which the red color was introduced after
deposition. This classification of red beds is intended
primarily for field use; it does not supplant theoreti-
cal and genetic classifications but is useful in con-
junction with them.
423 Conclusions 428
423 References cited 428
423
423 Figure
424 1. Five hypotheses for origin of red arkosic sedi-
424 ments 427
425
425 Table Facing
426 1. Classification of red beds 424
428
that redness is the factor to be explained, the
present interpretations are based on structural,
textural, and associational characters other than
red color. Simple descriptive names are then
assigned to the individual red bed facies. This
gives a field classification of rocks which may
be used in conjunction with Krynine's (1949)
theoretical classification of modes of genesis.
An empirical classification cannot be all-inclu-
sive; further work may demonstrate several
red bed facies in addition to those described.
CLASSIFICATION OF RED BEDS
General Statement
Seven different red beds facies are recog-
nized. Occasionally these grade into one
another or into non-red sediments, reflecting
the fact that environments of sedimentation
grade into each other. However, environments
of accumulation for the typical facies can be
determined by applying the criteria given
(Table 1).
Shale-Pebble Conglomerates
Diagnostic characteristics are that: (1) the
 424 JOHN CLARK—FIELD INTERPRETATION OF RED BEDS
red material occurs in larger particles as one
approaches the source area; (2) the red occurs
both disseminated and in shale pebbles which
may preserve original bedding; (3) the series
is recognizably derived from a sedimentary
rather than an igneous or metamorphic source;
and (4) frequently an obvious red source bed
can be found.
The red color is caused by mechanically
transported fragments of pre-existing red beds.
The Duchesne River Formation (Eocene-
Oligocene) of Utah is a typical example. Here,
the Oligocene reds are inherited from the
Moenkopi Formation (Triassic) of the Uinta
Mountains. Close to the source, the red color
occurs both disseminated and in pebbles. A
few miles farther out, the red color is dis-
seminated through the siltstones and mud-
stones, but the sandstones are free of it.
Occasionally, this facies cannot be distin-
guished from the second type, red clay con-
glomerates. Since the significance of the two is
very different, discrimination between them is
important. Occurrence of red-shale pebbles
near the source is entirely diagnostic; lacking
this criterion, the absence of abundant weath-
ered granite or limestone particles suggests
shale-pebble rather than red clay conglomer-
ates.
The significance of shale-pebble conglomer-
ates is limited. They indicate an abundant
source of red material, usually within a few
miles or tens of miles, and an absence of
strongly reducing conditions during deposi-
tion. Red elastics are quickly diluted by the
addition of appreciable quantities of other fine
materials. They are also easily reduced. In the
Duchesne River Formation of Utah, inherited
red elastics of a flood plain-deltaic depositional
environment fade to pale green lacustrine
shales within a few hundred yards of the
Oligocene shore line.
Red Clay Conglomerates and
Associated Mudstones
The red color is due to lateritic weathering
of a pre-existing non-red rock in the source
area and is thoroughly disseminated through
the sediments, being brighter near the source.
Although any rock may weather to a laterite
under appropriate conditions, limestones, gran-
ites, and basalts do so most readily; clastic
grains of deeply weathered limestone or gran-
ite, therefore, frequently occur associated with
this facies. Pieces of structureless, sticky, red
clay may occur in conglomerates near the
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source, as distinguished from the clay-pebble
facies in which the conglomerates include
pebbles of red shale. The Fountain Formation
(Pennsylvanian) of Colorado is a typical
example.
This facies indicates (Krynine, 1949) an
average annual temperature of more than 60°
F., a rainfall of over 40 inches in the source
region, and a lack of strongly reducing condi-
tions in the transporting medium and the area
of deposition. The occurrence of abundant,
fine-grained, red material in the sandstones and
conglomerates distinguishes this facies from all
others except the cinnamon red and brick red
facies. It can usually be distinguished from
these by the presence of fragments of deeply
weathered source rocks. However, some author-
ities consider that the cinnamon red and brick
red facies are themselves transported laterites;
admittedly the evidence against this is not
conclusive.
Variegated Red Beds
These consist typically of massively bedded
siltstones varying from chocolate through
purple to purplish reds, with associated chan-
nel fills of light gray, tan, or greenish sandstone
and conglomerate. The siltstones are often
mottled with green and include laminated
greenish lenses containing fossil fish and plant
remains. Fossil vertebrates usually include large
reptiles or amphibians.
The nature and occurrence of this facies
indicate its fluvial origin. The fauna and flora
indicate a warm, humid environment on flood
plains.
The colors in the flood plain sediments are
probably autochthonous and syngenetic for the
reasons listed. (1) In the typical example, the
Uinta Formation (Eocene) of Utah, the source
areas are known and do not include rock types,
any mixtures of which would produce sedi-
ment of these colors by straight inheritance.
(2) The channel fills never include silt-clay
pebbles or fractions of any color other than
greenish gray. It is most improbable that
chocolate, purple, or red mud would be trans-
ported unreduced by overloaded streams and
spread out on flood plains, while the mud re-
maining in the streams was always reduced.
(3) Fresh feldspar pebbles up to 1 cm diameter
probably could not be derived in abundance
(Stagner 1941) from the same source area
where weathering was producing thick, lateritic
soils. (4) The red and purple colors form a
higher proportion of the section along the

Type Color characteristics
1. Shale-pebble reds Brick reds to deep reds
2. Red clay conglomer- Brick reds to deep reds
ates
3. Variegated reds Shales, purple to red with
greenish lenses and streaks.
Sandstones white, light
gray, or greenish when
fresh — w e a t h e r dark
brown. Color often in-
creases away from source.
4. Cinnamon reds Shales deep red with
greenish mottling on fresh
surfaces. Sandstones mud-
dy dark-red or light
creamy gray. Usually
much black MnO2 as-
sociated
5. Brick reds Siltstones, brick red to
orange to ocherous yel-
low; sandstones light red
to light brown
6. Pastel reds Laminated lavender, yel-
low, pure white; little red
7. Spattered reds Red color in concretions
and in complex ramifying
stains in greenish sedi-
ments
CLARK, TABLE 1
Geological Society of America Bulletin, volume 73
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TABLE 1. CLASSIFICATION OF RED BEDS
Textures and structures
Color deepens toward
source; near source, there
are characteristically peb-
bles of red material in a
less-red matrix. Strong
association with waste
from other sedimentary
rocks; obvious local
source. Red color con-
centrated in shales ex-
cept near source
General association with
granite, lava, or limestone
waste. Usually an obvi-
ous local source
Purple "shales" are mas-
sive, usually siltstones;
greenish lenses sometimes
laminated. Sandstones oc-
cur as restricted lenses and
channel fills. Concretion-
ary zones of many types
common
Shales, laminated, ripple-
marked, mud-cracked,
footprinted; usually thick.
Sandstones discontinuous,
generally medium- to
fine-grained, thin, not in
lenses, massive. Light-
colored sandstones platy.
Usually associated gypsum
Sandstones fine to coarse
grained; more lens-shaped
than in cinnamon reds.
Siltstones massive. Some
gypsum
Fine-grained, even-
grained, laminated sand-
stone and orthoquartzite
Clay, sandy clay, impure
sandstone. Red color often
follows the more argil-
laceous streaks in a
channel-fill; development
of hematitic concretions
and of ramifying stains
is diagnostic
Typical examples Fossils Interpretation
Duchesne River Forma- Few to none Rapid transportation and
tion (Oligocene) west of deposition in a non-reduc-
Vernal, Utah ing environment
Fountain Formation Few to none As above, plus monsoonal
(Pennsylvanian) of north- weathering under condi-
eastern Colorado tions postulated by Kry-
nine, at the source.
(1) Uinta Formation (Eo- Siltstones contain ter- Fluvial deposition under
cene) southeast of Myton, restrial vertebrates; green- warm, wet, equable con-
Utah; (2) Morrison For- ish lenses contain lacus- ditions. Abundant vegeta-
mation (Jurassic) of Wy- trine vertebrates and in- tion
oming, Colorado, eastern vertebrates; sandstones
Utah; (3) Parts of the contain leaves and water-
Pennsylvanian in Pitts- worn bones.
burgh, Pennsylvania
(1) Upper Moenkopi For- Few to none; either tracks Estuarine to shallow ma-
mation (Triassic) of the of vertebrates or shells of rine under desert condi-
Uinta Mountains north marine invertebrates tions
of Vernal, Utah; (2) Parts
of the Triassic of the
Connecticut Valley
(1) Lower Moenkopi For- Few to none. Occasional Deltaic or littoral to
mation (Triassic) of the water-washed bones of ter- estuarine under desert
Uintas; (2) Flower Pot restrial vertebrates conditions
Formation (Permian) of
Texas
Unkpapa Formation (Ju- None known Lacustrine; otherwise con-
rassic) of Buffalo Gap, ditions unknown
South Dakota
(1) Part of Raritan Forma- Many to none, depending No bearing on conditions
tion (Cretaceous) of cen- on original fossil content of rock genesis
tral New Jersey; (2) Some, of impregnated rock
but not all, of the red in
the Ahearn member, Cha-
dron Formation (Oligo-
cene) of South Dakota
 CLASSIFICATION OF RED BEDS
middle and lower portions of the flood plains,
where flooding and exposure would have been
seasonal, than toward the head where deposi-
tion was probably more rapid, rehandling more
common, and periods of wetting and drying
less prolonged.
Van Houten (1948) attributed the Lower
Eocene red beds of western Wyoming, the
Uinta and Duchesne River formations of Utah,
and many other Tertiary red beds to the re-
working of lateritic soils contemporaneously
developed in source areas. This would classify
all the red beds here called variegated reds as
red clay conglomerates and associated mud-
stones. The author does not question Van
Houten's interpretation of Wasatchian sedi-
ments but can demonstrate that the red of the
Duchesne River Formation is inherited from
the Triassic Moenkopi Formation. Along Lake
Fork of the Duchesne River, the Duchesne
River Formation overlaps mountainward across
the belt of outcrop of the Moenkopi Formation
and onto the Permian and Pennsylvanian. The
red color disappears from the Duchesne River
Formation immediately north (mountainward)
of the Moenkopi outcrop. This seems clear
evidence that the red color is inherited in this
case. Although the evidence cited for the origin
of color in the Uinta Formation is not quite as
conclusive, it justifies the proposal that the red
color may be caused by lateritization at the
site of deposition rather than in the source area.
This same facies is also represented by the
dinosaur-bearing Morrison Formation of Utah,
Colorado, and parts of Wyoming. It is com-
posed of fluvial deposits laid down under a
warm, fairly equable climate with alternate
wetting and drying. However, wetting and
drying could be caused either by alternate
rainy and dry seasons in the area of deposition
or by successive flooding and low-water stages
of the depositing stream. The seasonal precipi-
tation may, therefore, occur either at the
source or at the place of deposition.
Cinnamon Red Beds
The shales are laminated to medium-bedded,
with individual beds usually about 3^-2 inches
thick. They are ripple-marked and mud-
cracked but rarely crossbedded. The color is
deep, brilliant, cinnamon red which often looks
almost purple at a distance because of abundant
disseminated manganese dioxide on joint sur-
faces. The sandstones characteristically occur
as thin but massively to platy bedded strata,
not lenses. Their color varies from muddy dark
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425
red in the more massive to light creamy gray
in the platy members. Characteristically, gyp-
sum occurs as crack fills, disseminated crystals,
concretions, and definite strata. Fossils are
rare; some of the more laminated shales contain
a few marine invertebrates, and many of the
sandstones and mud-cracked shales preserve
tracks of vertebrates.
This facies and the brick red facies have
frequently been interpreted as transported
laterites. The alternative hypothesis, that the
cinnamon red sediments were deposited in
estuaries and shallow seas under warm desert
conditions with periodic flooding and drying
producing the red color, is believed to be pref-
erable. Evidence related to this will be dis-
cussed in connection with the next facies, brick
red beds, because these two facies are closely
related. A typical example of cinnamon red
beds is the upper part of the Moenkopi Forma-
tion north of Vernal, Utah.
Bric\ Red Beds
The brick red beds are massive siltstones
ranging from brick red or brown to orange or
ocherous yellow. The associated sandstones are
fine- to coarse-grained and occur more com-
monly in broad, thin lenses than in the bedded
strata characteristic of cinnamon red beds. The
sandstones are characteristically more massively
bedded and coarser grained than those of cin-
namon red beds. Ripple-marks and mud-cracks
are rare. Gypsum is not as common as in
cinnamon reds and usually occurs disseminated.
Fossils are very rare; a few water-worn bones of
terrestrial vertebrates sometimes occur. This
facies usually grades either laterally or verti-
cally into cinnamon reds. The lower part of the
Moenkopi Formation north of Vernal, Utah,
is a typical example.
The generally coarser sediment and more
massive bedding of brick red beds probably
indicate that these are shore or deltaic facies
developed under the same climate as cinnamon
red beds and adjacent to them. The paler,
more ocherous color may reflect longer drying
or less frequent submersion than occurred to
produce the more brilliant cinnamon reds.
Alternatively, it may be a function of the
generally larger grain size of the elastics.
Krynine (1949) mentions the possibility of
authigenic red beds but believes that the great
majority of red beds are transported laterites
("Primary Detrital red beds"). Swineford
(1955) has interpreted the Permian red beds
of Kansas in accordance with Krynine's theory.
 426 JOHN CLARK—FIELD INTERPRETATION OF RED BEDS
However, the following evidence favors de-
velopment of red color in the area of deposition,
in the case of the cinnamon red and brick red
facies. (1) The fact that the coarser-grained
facies is a different color suggests that either
the nature of the iron oxides or their distribu-
tion varies with the sedimentary environment.
(2) Fossils are either extremely rare or com-
pletely absent in these two facies. If the color is
inherited, red sediments should contain just as
many fossils as sediments of similar texture and
different color. (3) Gypsum is associated with
both, but especially with cinnamon red beds.
Krynine's statement that the salt and gypsum
of the Kansas Permian are more characteristi-
cally associated with non-red than with red
sediments may be true (although this phe-
nomenon can be explained by hypotheses other
than his), but the genetic association of gyp-
sum with the reds of the Spearfish, Chugwater,
and Moenkopi formations cannot be ques-
tioned. (4) Swineford (1955, p. 99, 100, 119)
observed that the staurolite and probably the
garnet of the Kansas Permian is extensively
etched. This indicates that reasonably powerful
altering solutions have affected these sediments
either during or after deposition. If the red
color of the sediments was not produced by
these solutions, it should have been modified
by them. (5) Krynine's suggested geomorphic
situation for producing sediments both red and
arkosic at their source (1949, p. 64) is extremely
unstable; either chemical weathering or stream
erosion would dominate such a land mass almost
at once. Repeated uplift would not renew such
an equilibrium as Krynine's hypothesis re-
quires, because the interstream divides would
remain sharp once they became sharp, and
further uplift would produce more fresh arkose
with less red lateritic sediment. Krynine's
hypothesis would probably produce a series of
graded beds, with arkosic sediments at the
bottom grading through arkosic reds to non-
arkosic red beds at the top of each unit.
Alternatively, if a series of arkosic elastics
had their moderate iron content oxidized to
red in the area of deposition, the association of
fresh and weathered feldspars with red clays
would be adequately explained. This hypothesis
certainly does not preclude some lateritization
in the source area but suggests that the major
and controlling process occurs in the area of
deposition.
Figure 1 presents five ways in which arkosic
red sediments may be produced. Figure 1A
(Krynine, 1949, Fig. 6) demonstrates Kry-
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nine's hypothesis. Figure IB shows lateritiza-
tion of originally arkosic sediments in the warm
lowland site of accumulation; this is the hy-
pothesis favored in the present paper. Under a
somewhat warmer climatic regimen, the situa-
tion shown in Figure 1C might occur. Lateritic
soils would be produced in the foothills and
washed into major streams bearing arkosic
debris from the higher, cooler, main range. This
hypothesis would require a climatic balance
almost as delicate as the geomorphic balance of
Krynine's hypothesis, enduring for a longer
time than one climatic pattern would probably
be maintained.
Wahlstrom (1948) first described the situa-
tion shown in Figure 1D, from the Precambrian-
Pennsylvanian contact west of Boulder, Colo-
rado. Deep weathering at this place thoroughly
lateritized the massive granite, leaving the
pegmatites almost unaffected. Both arkosic
waste and red clay were produced on the same
hillsides, owing to the difference in nature of
the igneous rock, presumably without a com-
plex geomorphic or climatic balance. This is a
demonstrable situation rather than an hypothe-
sis. It was responsible for the development of
the arkosic red sediments in the Fountain
Formation of Colorado. This may explain the
derivation of all red arkoses; however, this
seems improbable, because many granitic bath-
oliths would have had an insufficiency of peg-
matites after their outermost portions were
eroded away.
The situation in Figure IE occurs at present
in Wyoming, wherever red Triassic shales
border ranges with a Precambrian core. The
resulting mixed sediments are arkosic and red,
at least for a short distance downstream from
the Triassic outcrop. They are classed as shale-
pebble conglomerates in the present system.
Pastel Red Beds
This very rare facies consists of well sorted,
fine- to medium-grained, laminated sandstones,
with characteristically little crossbedding. The
laminae are pale shades of lavender rather than
predominantly red. These beds are unfossilifer-
ous. They are probably lacustrine, but factors
controlling the color, and other details of the
sedimentary environment, are unknown. The
Unkpapa Formation of South Dakota is typi-
cal.
Identical facies commonly occur in Beltian
sediments of western Montana and northern
Utah. Since the conditions of deposition of the
younger, more easily interpreted rocks are un-
 CLASSIFICATION OF RED BEDS 427

WEATHERED RED SOIL

ARKOSIC
\Q2_0 DETRITUS

FRESH LATERITIZATION HERE

.60°_!SOTHERM_
'vN'COARSE, FRESH
BEDROCK GRAY

'IMPACT AND
UNDERMINING
B. LATERITIZATION AT SITE OF
*• KRYNINE'S HYPOTHESIS DEPOSITION

ARKOSIC ASSIVE GRANITE,

DETRITUS LATERITIZEC
LATERITIZATION
HERE PEGMATITES,
60' ISOTHERM WEATHERED TO
illXED REDS AND ARKOSE
ARKOSE

c LATERITIZATION IN FOOTHILLS, ARKOSE

AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS D. DIFFERENTIAL WEATHERING (WAHLSTROM
iRKOSIC
DETRITUS

RED SANDSTONE
RED SHALE
RED ARKOSIC SEDIMENT
E. INHERITANCE FROM TWO SOURCES
Figure 1. Five hypotheses for origin of red arkosic sediments

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 428 JOHN CLARK—FIELD INTERPRETATION OF RED BEDS

known, there is no assurance that the resem-
blance between them and the Beltian rocks is
significant.
Soattered Red Beds
Clays, sandy mudstones and siltstones, and
impure sandstones comprise this facies which
includes marine, lacustrine, and fluvial sedi-
ments. The red color occurs as concretions and
as complex, ramifying spots in greenish sedi-
ments. Commonly the red color follows the
more argillaceous streaks in a poorly-sorted
sediment. In places it occurs concentrated
around fossils, which range in number from
many to none. Parts of the Raritan Formation
of New Jersey and of the Ahearn Member,
Chadron Formation, of South Dakota are
typical.
In this facies the red color is autochthonous
but epigenetic, formed by the action of perco-
lating solutions after the sediment was depos-
ited. The complex, ramifying shape of the red
spots and the occurrence of hematite concre-
tions demonstrate formation or migration of
hematite after deposition of the main mass of
the sediment. It is occasionally difficult to
distinguish this facies from an epigenetically
bleached phase of one of the other six. If fossils
can be found, the distinction is usually simple:
a greenish reduced zone usually surrounds fos-
sils occurring in one of the other six facies,
while in spattered reds the fossils act as points
of concentration for hematite. However, there
is frequently some post-depositional migration
of hematite within sediments of the other six
facies, so this criterion should be applied with
care.
There is usually no difficulty in distinguish-
ing spattered reds from unaltered phases of the
other six facies. Spattered reds bear no relation-
ship to any one sedimentary environment.
Their significance relative to ground-water
activity is not known.
CONCLUSIONS
Seven facies of post-Silurian continental red
beds can be recognized in the field. This recog-
nition aids in interpreting the sedimentary
environment. Use of the purely descriptive
terms proposed in this paper is preferable to
use of genetic names until the mode of origin
of any particular red bed sequence is known.

REFERENCES CITED
Krynine, Paul D., 1949, The origin of red beds: N. Y. Acad. Sci. Trans., v. 11, no. 3, p. 60-68
Stagner, Wilbur L., 1941, The paleogeography of the eastern part of the Uinta Basin during Uinta B
(Eocene) time: Carnegie Mus. Annals, v. 28, art. 14, p. 273-308
Swineford, Ada, 1955, Petrography of Upper Permian rocks in south-central Kansas: Kansas State Geol.
Survey Bull. I l l , p. 1-179
Van Houten, Franklyn B., 1948, Origin of red-banded Early Cenozoic deposits in the Rocky Mountain
region: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geol. Bull, v. 32, p. 2083-2126
Wahlstrom, Ernest E., 1948, Pre-Fountain and Recent weathering on Flagstaff Mountain near Boulder,
Colorado: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., v. 59, p. 1173-1189

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