05-Sedimentary Structures PDF

2307223 Sedimentology
Sedimentary structures
Sukonmeth Jitmahantakul
WEEK 5
Textbooks
Sediment pathway
From Nichols (2009)

Outline
1. Introduction
2. Classification
3. Primary sedimentary structures
4. Secondary sedimentary structures

Sedimentary structures are
internal megascopic features of
sedimentary rocks that are best
study in the field.
They reflect environmental
conditions that prevailed at, or
very shortly after, the time of
deposition.
Some sedimentary structures
can be used to identify the tops
and bottoms of beds.
The interpretation of the origin of
sedimentary structures is based on studies
of their modern counterparts, on laboratory
experiments and on theoretical physics.
Classification of sed. structures
mostly
most common chemical origin
Primary Secondary
structures structures
weathering
transportation deposition diagenersis
erosion
Primary structures generated in a sediment during or shortly after deposition. 

e.g. cross-bedding, ripples, channels, load casts
Secondary structure formed sometime after sedimentation.  
e.g. concretions, stylolites
PRIMARY
Primary sedimentary structures (PSS)
1. Stratification & bedforms 2. Bedding-plane marking
• Planar bedding & lamination 
- Laminated bedding 
- Groove casts, striations, bounce, brush, prod, and roll marks 
- Flute casts 
- Graded bedding  - Load casts 
- Massive (structureless) bedding - Tracks, trails, burrows 
- Mudcracks & syneresis cracks 
• Bedforms 
- Ripples 
- Biogenetic structures 
- Pits & small impressions
- Dunes 
- Antidunes  
• Cross-stratification 
- Cross-bedding  3. Other structures
- Ripple cross-lamination 
- Flaser & lenticular bedding  - Sedimentary sills & dikes
- Herringbone cross-stratification 
- Hummocky cross-stratification
• Irregular stratification 
- Convolute bedding & lamination 
- Flame structures 
- Ball & pillow structures 
- Synsedimentary folds and faults 
- Dish & pillar structures 
- Channels 
- Scour-and-fill structures 
- Stromatolites 
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & bedforms >
Planar bedding
& lamination
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & bedforms > Planar bedding & lamination
Laminated bedding
From Nichols (2009)

Graded bedding
Graded bedding
Massive bedding
Bedforms
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & bedforms > Bedforms
Ripples
Ripples
Dunes
Photograph taken by Luca Zanon

Antidunes
http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/talbot/cdgeol/Sediment/SedStruct2.html
Antidunes
From Nichols (2009)

Antidunes
Antidunes
Cross-stratification
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & Bedforms > Cross-stratification
Cross-bedding
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & bedforms > Cross-stratification
Cross-bedding
From Nichols (2009)

Ripple cross-lamination
Flaser & lenticular bedding
mixture of sand and mud
variations in current or wave

activity or sediment supply due
to changing current strength or
wave power e.g. tidal setting
From Nichols (2009)



Herringbone cross-stratification
results from a tidal current flowing predominantly in one direction for a period of
time, probably many years, followed by a change in the pattern of tidal flow
The herringbone pattern is characteristic of tidal sedimentation.
From Nichols (2009)

Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & Bedforms > Cross-stratification
Herringbone cross-stratification
Hummocky cross-stratification
occur in offshore transition zone (shallow marine) where sands are deposited and
reworked by storms. - Storm deposits
consisting of rounded mounds of sand on the sea floor a few centimetres high and
tens of centimetres across
convex upward, dips in all directions at low angles, and thickness laterally
concave layers = Swaley cross-stratification
The environment where hummocky and swaley cross-stratification form is yet
another source of debate.
From Nichols (2009)

Depositional model for HCS & SCS

A: Fair-weather conditions.
Sediment transport is shoreward

with short-period, low oscillatory
velocity affecting bottom from
shoreline to fair-weather wave
base.
B: Storm conditions. From Dumas & Arnott (2006)
Sediment transport is basinward

with long-period, high oscillatory
velocity waves affecting bottom
from shoreline to storm wave
base.
From Nichols (2009)

Gary Nichols : Sedimentology and Stratigraphy


Irregular
stratification
Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & Bedforms > Irregular stratification
Convolute bedding & lamination

The layering within sediments can be disrupted during or after deposition by
localised and small-scale liquefaction of the material.
The structures range from slight overstepping of cross-strata to the development

of highly folded and contorted layers.
Either deposited on slight slope or where there is a shear stress on the material
due to flow of overlying fluid.
Convolute lamination is particularly common in turbidites.
From Nichols (2009)

Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & bedforms > Irregular stratification



Primary sedimentary structures > Stratification & Bedforms > Irregular stratification
Load cast & flame structures

form where higher density sand has partially sunk into the underlying mud
to form downward-facing, bulbous structures
The mud may become forced up into the overlying sand bed to form a
flame structure.
Ball-and-pillow structure
mud
From Nichols (2009)

Flame structures
Load cast
Load cast & flame structures

Ball & pillow structures
Photograph taken by Rygel, M.C.

Diapirism
form where the instability due to
density differences between
layers of unconsolidated
sediment results in movements
of material on a large scale.
most commonly observed where

the density contrast is large and
the low-density material is
relatively mobile
From Nichols (2009)

Diapirism
http://sepwww.stanford.edu/sep/jon/crustal/
Synsedimentary folds & faults

a result of gravitational instabilities in sediment piles



Dish & pillar structures
Photograph taken by Rudolf Pohl

Dish & pillar structures
Photograph taken by Rudolf Pohl

Dish & pillar

structures
Evolution of dish structure in

and adjacent to small
anticlinal convolution.
From Lowe & LoPiccolo (1974)

Liquefaction
Channels
Channel confines the flow.
size range from features less than a metre deep and only
metres across to large-scale structures many tens of
metres deep and kilometres to tens of kilometres in width.
occur in diverse environments ranging from subaerial

alluvial plains to submarine continental margins
can be petroleum reservoirs and aquifers
contain placer and replacement mineral ore bodies
cut out coal seams

Channels
Image credit: Callan from blogs.agu.org

Channels
Channels
Pringle et al 2010
Scour-and-fill structures
Stromatolites
Photograph taken by Rygel, M.C.

Stromatolites
http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/stromatolite1_h.jpg
Primary sedimentary structures >
Bedding-plane
markings
Primary sedimentary structures > Bedding-plane markings
Cast & mould

occur on surfaces between beds
formed before the deposition of the overlying bed
Cast
Mould
Sole marks
Small-scale erosional features on a bed surface
found in a very wide range of depositional environments, but common in

successions of turbidites
Scour marks are negative relief features produced as a result of erosion of a

sediment surface by the current flowing over it, formed via the impingement of
usually sediment-laden eddies on beds.
Tool marks - impression formed by object carried in the water flow

Scour marks
asymmetric in cross-section with one
steep edge opposite a tapered edge
In plan view, they are narrower at one

end, widening out onto the tapered
edge
wider edge marks the passage of the

eddy as it is swept away by the current.
can be used as palaeocurrent

indicators
From Nichols (2009)

Flute mark
Image credit Christopher Spencer from travellinggeologist.com

Flute mark
Image credit Christopher Spencer from travellinggeologist.com

Obstacle scours

Tool marks
sharply defied elongate marks created

by an object (tool) being dragged
along the bed
often seen in lines along the bedding

plane
The shape and size of all tool marks

is determined by the form of the
object
From Nichols (2009)

Groove marks

Groove marks

Mudcracks
caused by subaerial desiccation

of mud
a broader spacing occurs in

thicker deposits
In cross-section desiccation
cracks taper downwards and
the upper edges may roll up
mud-chips , mud-flakes
Desiccation cracks

Syneresis cracks

Biogenetic structures
One of the basic principles of trace fossil analysis is

that similar ichnogenera can be produced by a wide
variety of organisms.
The shape of a trace fossil reflects environment rather

than creator.
Trace fossils always occur in place and cannot be

reworked like most other fossils.
Ichnofossils have been grouped according to the

activity which made them and according to their
topology.
Primary sedimentary structures > Bedding-plane marking
Ichnology
Plant rootlets
Vertebrate footprints (tracks)
Trails
Soft sediment burrows
Hard rock borings
Study of trace fossils  

= Ichnology
Bioturbation
The presence of evidence of organisms disturbing sediment
very common feature in sedimentary rocks
the absence of bioturbation in shallow marine deposits may

be taken as an indicator of something unusual about
conditions - anoxic sea floor.
the intensity of bioturbation in a body of sediment is an

indication of the number of animals living there and the
length of time over which they were active
Ichnofacies • The broad correlation between depositional environment

and characteristic trace fossil assemblages.
From Nichols (2009)

Burrows
Burrows
Crab burrow in a modern sandy beach.

Complex burrows

Complex burrows

Zoophycos

Palaeodictyon

Helminthoidea

PSS - depositional structures
- Laminated bedding (A, B, C) 
- Flute casts 
- Graded bedding (A)  - Load casts 
- Massive (structureless) bedding (A) - Tracks, trails, burrows 
• Bedforms 
- Ripples (A, B) 
- Pits & small impressions 
- Dunes (A, B) 

- Antidunes (A)
- Cross-bedding (A, B)  3. Other structures
- Ripple cross-lamination (A, B) 
- Flaser & lenticular bedding (A)  - Sedimentary sills & dikes
- Herringbone cross-stratification (A) 
- Hummocky cross-stratification (A)
- Convolute bedding & lamination  A.Suspension settling &
- Flame structures  current- and waved-formed
- Ball & pillow structures  structures
B.Wind-formed structures
- Channels  C.Chemically & biochemicallly
- Scour-and-fill structures  formed structures
- Stromatolites 
PSS - erosional structures
- Groove casts, striations, bounce, brush, prod, and roll marks (E) 
- Flute casts (E) 
• Bedforms 
- Ripples 
- Dunes 
- Antidunes
- Flaser & lenticular bedding  - Sedimentary sills & dikes
D. Scour marks
E. Tool marks
- Channels (D) 
- Scour-and-fill structures (D) 
- Stromatolites 
PSS - deformation structures
- Flute casts 
- Graded bedding  - Load casts (G) 
- Mudcracks & syneresis cracks (J) 
• Bedforms 
- Ripples 
- Pits & small impressions (K) 
- Dunes 
- Antidunes
- Flaser & lenticular bedding  - Sedimentary sills & dikes (H)
- Convolute bedding & lamination (G) 
F. Slump structures
G. Load & founder structures
- Flame structures (G) 
- Ball & pillow structures (G)  H. Injection structures
- Synsedimentary folds and faults (F) 
I. Fluid-escape structures
- Dish & pillar structures (I) 
- Channels  J. Desiccation structures
- Stromatolites  K. Impact structures
PSS - biogenic structures
- Flute casts 
- Massive (structureless) bedding - Tracks, trails, burrows (L) 
• Bedforms 
- Ripples 
- Dunes 
- Antidunes
- Flaser & lenticular bedding  - Sedimentary sills & dikes (H)
L. Bioturbation structures
M. Biostratification structures
- Channels 
- Stromatolites (M) 
SECONDARY
Secondary sedimentary structures
Concretions
Secondary sedimentary structures
Stylolites

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2307223 Sedimentology

From Nichols (2009)

3. Primary sedimentary structures

4. Secondary sedimentary structures

Primary structures generated in a sediment during or shortly after deposition.

From Nichols (2009)

Photograph taken by Luca Zanon

From Nichols (2009)

From Nichols (2009)

Flaser & lenticular bedding

mixture of sand and mud

variations in current or wave

From Nichols (2009)

Flaser & lenticular bedding

Flaser & lenticular bedding

The herringbone pattern is characteristic of tidal sedimentation.

From Nichols (2009)

From Nichols (2009)

Depositional model for HCS & SCS

Sediment transport is shoreward

B: Storm conditions. From Dumas & Arnott (2006)

Sediment transport is basinward

From Nichols (2009)

Gary Nichols : Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

Gary Nichols : Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

Convolute bedding & lamination

The structures range from slight overstepping of cross-strata to the development

Convolute lamination is particularly common in turbidites.

From Nichols (2009)

Convolute bedding & lamination

Convolute bedding & lamination

Convolute bedding & lamination

Load cast & flame structures

From Nichols (2009)

Load cast & flame structures

Gary Nichols : Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

Ball & pillow structures

Photograph taken by Rygel, M.C.

most commonly observed where

From Nichols (2009)

Synsedimentary folds & faults

Synsedimentary folds & faults

Synsedimentary folds & faults

Synsedimentary folds & faults

Gary Nichols : Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

Dish & pillar structures

Photograph taken by Rudolf Pohl

Dish & pillar structures

Photograph taken by Rudolf Pohl

Dish & pillar

Evolution of dish structure in

From Lowe & LoPiccolo (1974)

occur in diverse environments ranging from subaerial

can be petroleum reservoirs and aquifers

contain placer and replacement mineral ore bodies

cut out coal seams

Image credit: Callan from blogs.agu.org

Photograph taken by Rygel, M.C.

Cast & mould

found in a very wide range of depositional environments, but common in

Scour marks are negative relief features produced as a result of erosion of a

Tool marks - impression formed by object carried in the water flow

Primary structures generated in a sediment during or shortly after deposition. 

Study of trace fossils  

- Dunes (A, B) 