SEDIMENTARY

STRUCTURES
PART II:
OTHER
SEDIMENTARY
STRUCTURE

Sedimentology
Dr. Hafzan Eva Mansor
 What is Sedimentary Structures?

Sedimentary structures are the larger, generally

three-dimensional physical features of sedimentary
rocks; they are best seen in outcrop or in large hand
specimens rather than through a microscope.
Sedimentary structures include features like bedding,
ripple marks, fossil tracks and trails, and mud cracks.
PRINCIPLE PRIMARY SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
Primary sedimentary structures are generated by
four fundamental kinds of processes:
a) Mainly deposition
(depositional structures)
b) Processes that involved an
episode of erosion followed by
deposition (erosional
structures)
c) Deposition followed by
physical soft-sediment
deformation (deformation
structures)
d) Biogenically mediated
deposition or nonbiogenic
deposition followed by
biogenic modification (biogenic
structures)
Other Primary Sedimentary Structures

• Primary sedimentary structures: any sedimentary structure that

forms at the time that the sediment is deposited (and reflects the
processes acting at the time of deposition).
Terminology for Sedimentary
Strata

• Bed: Unit of sediment which is

generally uniform in character and
contains no distinctive break.

• Lamina / laminae: mm-thick beds

• Beds may be graded or contain

different sedimentary structures

• Base of bed may be erosional if

there is scouring, or sometimes
gradational

• Interbedded: Alternations of thin

layers of different lithology. Usually
considered as a single unit
 Massive (structureless)
bedding
The term massive
bedding is used to
describe beds that
appear to be
homogenous and
lacking in sedimentary
structures (other than
size grading, certain
thick, non-graded
sandstones)
 Normal Grading

Graded Beds

• Vertical change in grain size

in a single bed

• Normal grading: Overall

decrease in grain size from
base to top Sharp base

• Reverse grading: Overall

increase in grain size from
base to top Reverse Grading
 GRADED BEDDING
Graded bed are sedimentation units characterized by
distinct vertical gradations in grain size

Thickness from few centimeters to

few meters, normally have sharp
contact
 Normal Grading

• Product of:

• (1) Settling of particles out of

suspension (Stokes Law, coarser
grains sink faster than finer
grains)

• OR

• (2) Consequence of a decrease

in flow strength through time
(lower line of Hjulstrom
diagram)
Normal Grading
 Normal Grading

How it formed?

a) Turbidite currents
b) Sedimentation from
suspension clouds
generated by storm
activity on the shelf
c) Deposition in the last
phases of heavy
flood
 Reverse Grading
• An increase in flow velocity
through time may result in
reverse grading

• Example, river floods

 Reverse Grading

Product by two
mechanisms

a) Dispersive
pressures

b) Kinetic sieving
 Erosional Sole marks
• Small-scale erosional features on a
bed surface

• Preserved in rock record when

another layer of sediment is
deposited on top, leaving a feature
on the bedding plane

• Good younging direction indicators

Positive relief features

on base of infilling bed
 Erosional Sole marks
• (1) Scour marks: form as a result of
turbulence in the water causing
erosion

• (2) Tool marks: impressions formed

by object carried in the water flow

Positive relief features

on base of infilling bed
 Scour Marks
• Example: Flute cast:
• Erosional scours due to turbulent eddies in a flow
Flow
• Develop by scouring of a cohesive mud substrate

• Asymmetric cross-section, one steep edge opposite a

tapered edge
Cohesive mud

• Plan view: narrower at one end, widening out onto Cross-Section Top Plan View
the tapered edge

• Steep, narrow end of flute marks point where the

eddy initially eroded into the bed

• Tapered, wider edge marks passage of the eddy as it is

swept away by the current

• Size: few cm- tens of cm across

• As easy to find the cast form as it is the depression

itself

• Asymmetrical: palaeocurrent indicator

Tool Marks
• Marks created by an object being carried
in a flow over a cohesive mud substrate

• Grooves: sharply defined elongate marks

created by an object being dragged along
the bed

• Chevrons: formed when sediments still

soft

• Prod, skip and bounce marks: Landing

marks of saltating objects. Often seen as
lines along bedding plane

• Preserved as positive relief cast along base

of sandstone
 Other Scour Marks on Sandstone Beds Obstacle Scour

• Rarely preserved as they

develop on non-
cohesive, sandy
substrate
• Obstacle scour: Eddies
that scour into the bed
produced by an obstacle
on the beds, such as a
pebble or shell
• Ridges and furrows:
mm-scale, elongate
linear features on bed
surface caused by
turbulence
 Soft Sediment Deformation Structures
• Deformation of beds during or immediately after deposition
• Deformation while sediment is still soft and unlithified
 Soft, water saturated mud

Rapid sand deposition

Load Structures
• Produced by the presence of
a reverse density gradient Denser sand sinks and deforms

• Forms when dense,

overlying sediment (usually
sand) settles into less dense,
water-saturated sediment Denser sand sinks and deforms
(usually mud) below

Flame structures
• Produces a downward bulge
of sandstone. Internal
bedding will deform into the
shape of the bulge
Denser sand sinks and deforms Load casts

Ball and pillow structures

Sandstone

Mudstone
Convolute Lamination
and bedding

• Complexly folded beds or

laminations
• Confined to a single
sedimentary unit (overlying and
underlying beds ar enot
deformed)
• Caused by deformation of
liquefied sediment
• Liquefaction: loss of strength of
loosely packed sediment with
high amount of water content.
Usually triggered by ground
shaking
 Slump Structures
• Folded, piled and faulted
sedimentary units
• Thickness ranges from less than 1
m to more than 50 m
• Confined to a single sedimentary
unit (overlying and underlying
beds are not deformed)
• Produced by slope instability and
failure
 Dish and Pillar Structure
• Dish structures: Cross-section of
sandstone beds displaying
subhorizontal, flat to concave-
upward clayey laminations

• Pillar structures: Occur in

association with dish structures.
Near-vertical cross-cutting
columns of structureless or
swirled sand

• Interpreted as water escape

structures: during compaction
and dewatering of sand, semi-
permeable layers in the sand act
as barriers to the flow (dishes).
Forceful upward water
movement produces the pillars.
Gradational contact between sandstone (above) and conglomerate (below)