Chapter 4.

Sedimentary
Structures
Sedimentary structures are
large-scale features of
sedimentary rocks such as
parallel bedding, cross
bedding, ripples, and
mudcracks that are best
studied in the field.

4.2 Kinds of
primary
sedimentary
structures

1
 4.3 Stratification and bedforms
4.3.1 Bedding and lamination
Nature of bedding Bedding planes: The upper and
Beds (or strata): Tabular or lenticular lower surfaces of beds.
layers of sedimentary rock that have Bedding planes often represent
lithologic, textural, or structural unity planes of nondeposition, abrupt
that clearly distinguishes them from change in depositional conditions,
layers above and below. or an erosion surface.

Bedding
bed plane Bed
Collinson & Thompson (1982) Sedimentary
Structures. p.6

Bedding as the product of different combinations of

grain composition, size, shape, orientation and packing. Van Wagoner et al. (1990) p.9 2
 A bed (>1 cm thick) can be regard as a sedimentation units
deposited under essentially constant physical conditions. Beds
thinner than 1 cm are called lamina.

Amalgamation surface: A marked discontinuity (commonly an

erosional surface) between two beds of similar composition.

Terms for describing bed thickness

Adjective noun
Boggs (2001) p.91
very thick bed
thick bed
medium bed
Amalgamation surface
thin bed
very thin bed
thick lamina
thin lamina
3
Siliciclastic coarse-grained beds (e.g., sand, gravel beds) usually deposit in a short
period of time (a few minutes to a few days). On the other hand, suspension
deposition of very fine clay could take months or years to produce a bed.

The time duration represented by bedding planes (because of nondeposition or

erosion) is usually longer than the time span represented by depositional beds.

Quiz:
Terms used for describing Subdivide the rock given below into
bedding surfaces lamina and beds and describe its
bedding types.

4
 Simple bedset: consisting of two or more superimposed beds characterized by
similar composition, texture, and internal structures.
Composite bedset: a group of beds differing in composition, texture, and internal
structures but associated genetically, representing a common type of deposited
succession.

5
Fig. 4.4 Diagram illustrating the terminology of bedsets.
A simple bedset consists of multiple beds of cross-beds.

大漢溪 桂竹林層 6
 Kinds of planar bedding

Planar bed: Beds that do not

contain internal dipping
laminae (e.g., cross-laminae)
and which are bounded by
nearly planar bedding surfaces
that are essentially parallel to
each other.

Composite bedset
Fig. 4.5 Planar bedding in the Helena
Formation (Precambrian), Glacier National
Park, Montana.

Laminated bedding
Graded bedding
Massive bedding

Planar bedding (laminated bedding) 7

紅花子層（楠梓仙溪）
 Laminated bedding

Parallel laminae: Beds that do not contain internal dipping laminae (cross-laminae)
and which are bounded by nearly planar bedding surfaces that are essentially
parallel to each other.

Harms et al. (1982) SEPM short course, 9, p.3-24.

Planar or flat beds are produced in a wide range of sediment sizes by a wide range
of current velocities. It can be produced by plane-bed traction in unidirectional
(upper flow regime or lower flow regime), oscillatory or combined flow; or it can be
formed by settling without traction.

Examples of parallel laminae: Bouma B subdivision (upper plane bed)

Slow suspension settling in lakes (varves) 8
 Gradded bedding

Normal grading: Beds that show

gradation from coarser particles at the
base to finer particles at the top.

Most of graded beds have been

attributed to the deposition by turbidity
currents. Differences in the rate at
which particles of different sizes settle
from suspension during the waning
stages of turbidity current flow appear
to account for the grading.

Normal grading may be formed by

sedimentation from suspension clouds
generated by storm activity on the shelf,
periodic silting of delta distributaries,
deposition in the last phases of a
heavy flood, settling of volcanic ash
Fig. 4.7 Normal graded bedding in the Cretaceous
after an eruption …
Hudspeth Formation, north-central Oregon. Four 9
graded beds (arrows) are visible.
 Reverse grading: Massive Bedding
(less common) Boggs (2001) p.97

Occurs in some deposits of pyroclastic

flows, grain flows, high-concentration
turbidity currents.
Normal
Reverse

A raft 10
Products of high-density turbidity currents
4.3.2 Bedforms

Bedforms (ripples) on modern bedding plane

大甲溪出海口

11
 Sediment transport and bedform generation
General Bed Configurations produced by unidirectional flows:

Ripples and Dunes, range in widely in size

and shape, are characteristic of low, moderate
to high flow velocities;

Plane beds, are stable at still high flow

velocities for all sizes of loose sediment, and
also in a narrow range of low velocities in
coarse sediments;

Antidunes, develop at high velocities and

shallow depths in all sizes of sediments.

12
Table. 4.2 Characteristics of bedforms developed under unidirectional flow.

13
Effects of grain size and water
depth on bedform development

Important Variables in
characterizing the bed
configurations produced by
steady unidirectional flow.

Flow strength: U, mean Sands

flow velocity
F C
Sediment size: D VF M 0.5 1.0
VC 2.0
0.063 0.13 0.25

Flow depth: d, thickness of flow Velocity-size diagrams for

flow depths of 25-40 cm

14
 Generalized depth-velocity-size diagrams for bed phase developments

The depth-velocity-size
approach is the most direct
and unambiguous way of
characterizing relationships
among bed configurations.

Notes:
(1). Toward greater flow
depths the fields for both
small ripples and dunes
expand and the field of
antidune rapidly goes off the
velocity scale. It seems that
antidunes are extremely
uncommon in flows deeper
than a few meters.

(2) When flow depth increase,

the dune heights also
increase.
15
 Nature of flow over bedforms
Flow direction

Ripples (Origin: ~> 20 cm/sec)

Dimension: L, 10~30 cm rather rare in 30~60 cm, the higher the flow
velocity (boundary shear stress) the longer the L;

H, 0.6~3 cm the higher the flow velocity the higher the H, not
produced in sand > 0.6mm (Simons et al., 1965);

L/H > 5 (mostly between 8 and 15)

16
 Classification of ripples
Terms used in
describing plan
view of ripple
crests

straight, sinuous,
catenary, linguoid,
cuspate, lunate,
rhomboidal
Sinuous crests can
further be
distinguished as
being in-phase or
out-of-phase.
Commonly, forms
intermediate to in-
phase and out-of-
phase crests are
most abundant.

Fig. 4.14 Idealized calssification of current ripples and dunes on the basis of plan-view shape. Flow is from
the bottom to the top in each case.
17
 Examples
of ripples
(Give flow directions
for individual figure)

18
Fig. 4.13 The terminology used to describe asymmetric ripples.
19
Fig. 4.16 Large dunes on the surface of a sandstone bed, Tyee Formation (Tertiary), exposed along the
Umpqua River, southern Oregon Coast Range. The dunes are about 15cm high and 70cm from crest to 20 crest.
Fig. 4.15 Oscillation ripples on the surface of fine-grained marine sandstone, Elkton Siltstone (Eocene), 21
southern Oregon coast. Note hammer (lower-left corner) for scale.
4.3.3 Cross-Stratification structures

Reineck & Singh (1980) p.270.

Trough cross-bedding

Tabular cross-bedding

Bounding surfaces are curved 22

Bounding surfaces form more or less
surfaces in 3-D.
planar surface in 3-D.
Fig. 4.18 Large-scale tabular cross-bedding in Permian sandstones, Canyon de Chelly National Monument,
Arizona. Note that bounding surfaces of the cross-bedded units are planar and that the foreset laminae form
mainly tangential contacts with these planar surfaces. 23
Fig. 4.19 Small-scale trough cross-bedding, Coaledo Formation (Eocene), southern Oregon coast. Notice
that several episodes of scouring produced small, erosional troughs (arrows), which were subsequently filled
with low-angel cross-laminae.
24
Fig. 4.20 Diagram illustrating (A) large-scale tabular cross-bedding formed by migrating straight-crested
dunes (with rippled surfaces) and (B) large-scale trough cross-bedding formed by migration, trough-shaped
dunes. Flow is from left to right in both A and B.
25
 Cross-bedding Formed by migration or ripples and dunes

Geometry of cross-bedding depends on: ripple size, ripple geometry, and angle of climb.

Reineck & Singh (1980) p.38~43.

Tabular cross-bedding
Trough cross-bedding

26
 Climbing
ripples

Fig. 4.21 Ripple cross-lamination (below ballpoint pen) in flood deposits of the Illinois River, southwestern
Oregon. Parallel laminae at the bottom of the photograph developed during a plane-bed phase of upper-flow-
regime conditions; as current velocity diminished into the lower-flow regime, ripple cross-lamination formed on
top of the laminae. A later flood pulse deposited upper-flow-regime plane beds on top of the ripple cross-27
lamination.
 Flaser and Lenticular bedding
This type of bedding is a
case in which the bedding
is made up of not one but
two different types of
beds (very thin mud bed
and thin cross-laminated
sand bed) that alternate
repeatedly.

Flaser bedding is a
ripple bedding in which
mud streaks are
preserved in the troughs
and partly on the crests.

Lenticular bedding
shows well-preserved
sand lenses embedded
within the muddy layers.
Flaser, wavy and lenticular bedding imply that they are deposited in periods of current or wave
activity alternate with periods of quiescence. The main environments of its occurrence are28tide-
dominated subtidal zones, intertidal zones, and wave-dominated shoreface or inner shoreface.
 29
Fig. 4.22 Flaser bedding in tidal-flat sediments of the North Sea.
Fig. 4.23 Lenticular bedding in tidal flats of the North Sea. Sand lenses are wave ripples.

30
Hummocky cross-stratification

Fig. 4.24 Schematic diagram of hummocky cross-

stratification, which typically occurs interbedded
with bioturbated mudstone. MSTS, mudstones;
SSTS, sandstones.
31
Hummocky cross-stratification (HCS) is sets of fairly gently dipping laminae with
erosional upper contacts suggest deposition on a bedding surface in the form of
shifting three-dimensional hummocks and depressions.

Fig. 4.25 Hummocky cross-stratification in fine-grained sandstone, Elkton Siltstone (Eocene), southwestern
Oregon. Note the clearly defined erosional surface with fine, laminated sand draped over the erosional
32
hummock. The width of the area photographed is ~60cm.
HCS

北濱萊萊 大桶山層
33
These characteristics suggest that during deposition the bed was scoured into low
hummocks and shallow swales not well organized in orientation. This topography was
then mantled by laminae of material swept over the hummocks and swales. In terms of
scale, the hummocks are 10 to 50 cm high and spaced one to a few meters apart.
HCS is generally preserved in areas of weak tidal activity that lie below fair weather
wave base.
Experiments suggest strongly that HCS is produced by purely oscillatory flow or by
combined flow of strong oscillatory flow superimposed upon weak unidirectional flow
during storm conditions.

34
 4.3.4 Irregular Stratification

Deformation Structures Erosion Structures in vertical section

• Convolute Bedding and Lamination
• Channels
• Load and Flame Structures
• Scour-and-fill Structure
• Ball-and-pillow Structures
• Synsedimentary Folds and Faults
(or slump structures)
• Dish and Pillar Structures

Most types of soft-sediment deformation depend on unconsolidated sediment being

in a weak condition. These structures result from physical forces, commonly
gravitational, acting upon physically weak sediment, usually silts and fine-grained
sands, at the sediment surface or soon after burial.
The resistance of sediment to deformation is most commonly expressed by its
shear strength , which is a function of grain cohesion C, intergranular friction and
the effective pressure between the grains:

  C  (  p) tan 

where is pressure normal to shear, p is excess pore-fluid pressure and  is the 35

angle of internal friction.
A shock applied to water-logged, loosely packed sediment can change the packing
and, in the processes, increase the pore-fluid pressure to the extent that the
sediment undergoes temporary liquefaction. In this condition, sediment and water
behave as a liquid, deforming very readily until the pore-water pressure falls due to
escape of excess water and the sediment takes on a closer packing and grains
make frictional contact with one another. The shocks that cause liquefaction may
be externally generated, as by earthquakes, or they may be local, for example a
rise in water level or an episode of sudden deposition.

In addition to shock and repacking, excess pore-fluid pressure can be produced by

rapid deposition of fine-grained sediment. Their low permeability prevents pore-
fluid escape and sediment compaction at a rate that balances the increasing
overburden. Over-pressured or under-compacted conditions are then said to
obtain, in which state the sediment is highly susceptible to deformation.

Liquefaction of sediments may be total, so that all grain contacts are broken and
the mass of sediment and water flows freely. In such cases, original lamination is
destroyed, giving massive or "slurried" bedding. In other cases, where liquefaction
is only partial, deformation is more limited and original lamination may be
preserved, although distorted.

36
 Convolute Bedding and Lamination
The structure involves folding of lamination, commonly into upright cuspate
forms with sharp anticlines and more gentle synclines. Overturning of fold axes is
sometimes seen, often with a preferred orientation.

Convolution involves plastic deformation of partially liquefied sediment soon after

deposition. The common occurrence of convolute lamination in turbidite sandstones,
and just below the sediment surface in present-day river floodplains and tidal flats in
seismically quiet areas, suggests that liquefaction can be spontaneous as well as
triggered by current or wave.

The main use of convolute lamination is as evidence of rapid sedimentation.

Convolute Bedding

}
37
Boggs (2001) p.106
Fig. 4.26 Convolute lamination in fine-grained sandstone and shale, Coaledo Formation (Eocene), 38
southwestern Oregon. Note absence of deformation in the underlying layers.
 Load and Flame Structures
Load structures are sole markings generally preserved on the lower side of
the sand layer overlying the mud layer. On the surface, they appear as
swellings, varying in shape from slight bulges, to deep or shallow rounded
knobby bodies, to highly irregular protuberances. Generally, bulges of load
structures vary in size from a few mm to several dm.

Related to load structures are flame structures, which are best recognized
in sections cut perpendicular to the bedding surface. Flame structures show
curved, pointed tongues of mud projecting upward into an overlying sand
layer. Because of unequal loading and liquefaction, the mud layer has
moved up in the form of tongues into the overlying sand layer.

Load and flame structures are the result of

deposition of sand over a hydroplastic mud
layer. They are generally well preserved in
the deepwater flysch deposits and shallow-
water environments, especially in areas
normally having a rapid mud sedimentation,
interrupted by occasional sand deposition.
They are known to occur commonly in the
channels of muddy intertidal flats. 39
Load and Fame structures

In Vertical Section
}

Loadcasts on overturned bedding

surface

40
Fig. 4.27 Flame structures in a thin-bedding, fine sandstone-shale succession, Elkton Siltstone, southwestern
Oregon. The best developed flames are in the layer immediately below the coin.
41
 Ball-and-pillow Structures
The ball-and-pillow structure is exhibited by sand layers lying above a muddy layer.
The sand layer is broken up into several pillow-shaped, more or less ellipsoidal
masses. In size these bodies range from a few cm to several m. These pillows may
be slightly connected, or sometimes even completely isolated as "ball" or "pseudo-
nodules", floating freely in a muddy matrix.

Mechanism forming ball-and-pillow structures is similar to load and flame structures

but with prominent in vertical displacement because of rapid sedimentation of the
overlying sand layer.

Ball-and-pillow structures Boggs (2001) p.107

42
(鏡面砂岩，曾文溪)
 Synsedimentary Folds and Faults
(or slump structures)

Slump structures is a general term which includes all the penecontemporaneous

deformation structures resulting from movement and displacement of already
deposited sediment layers, mainly under the action of gravity. For examples,
contorted (distorted) bedding; slump folding; deformed cross-bedding;
synsedimentary fault.

Slump structures are generally associated with rapid sedimentation. Such regions
may be unstable because of greater slopes, type of sediment deposited, or other
reasons.

Sometimes slump masses may have

traveled for km. These masses
generally show a variety full of slump
structures, such as complicated
folding, overturned folds together
with thrusting and nappe-like
features, broken rolled structures,
slump breccias, etc. 43
Fig. 4.29 Small-scale decollement-type synsedimentary folds (arrows) in thin, fine-grained sandstone layers
interbedded with shale, Elkton Siltstone (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.
44
 Dish and Pillar Structures
They develop in sandy beds parallel to bedding, where they appear as sub-
horizontal to concave-upward, dark, clay-rich laminae varying in width from a
few cm to 50 cm and 0.2 to 2 mm in laminae thickness. Dish structures are water-
escape structures, and represent a deformation structure formed during the
consolidation and dewatering of quickly deposited sediments which undergo
liquefaction and fluidization.

Escaping water is forced to follow

horizontal flow paths beneath semi-
permeable laminations to points where
continued vertical escape is possible. Fine-
grained material is concentrated as
laminations, and deformed to make dishes;
while pillars form during forceful, explosive
water escape.

Dish structures are reported from thick

turbidites, delta front deposits, fluvial or
lake deposits, etc where periods of rapid
deposition alternate with intervals of
reduced sedimentation.
45
Erosion Structures in vertical section
The recognition that erosion has taken place during the accumulation of a
sediment sequence commonly depends on the occurrence of surfaces that
truncate earlier lamination or bedding. On the larger scale, these features are
best seen in vertical sections rather than on bedding planes.
Erosional features, of whatever origin, occur over a wide range of scales, up to
hundreds of meters deep and kilometers wide.

Erosional features, of whatever origin, occur

over a wide range of scales, up to hundreds
of meters deep and kilometers wide.
When describing erosional features at
outcrop, it is important to know the following
questions:

1) What is the overall three-dimensional

shape of the erosion surface?
2) What are the dimensions of the erosion
surface?
3) What is the orientation of the erosional
form?
46
 Channels

Channels are produced either by streams in a partly subaerial position or by

submerged or submarine currents. A channel can be filled up in three ways:
1) By horizontal layers. This is more common in channels which are not
submerged.

2) By layers conforming
approximately to the channel shape
with concavity upward. Layers may be
uniform or equal in thickness in
complete cross section of the channel,
or they may thin out laterally on the
sides. This type of channel filling is
found usually in completely
submerged channels.

3) A channel is filled up
asymmetrically by steeply inclined
layers. It is produced by diagonally
passing currents either in submerged
or emerged channels.
47
 Examples of Channel fills
Although channel fill
sediment is usually
sandy in nature, in
many cases a
channel may be
filled by muddy
sediments. In tidal
flat environments
some gullies and
channels are filled
predominantly by
muddy sediments.
In mud-dominated
shallow marine
environments,
channels are also
commonly filled by
mud.

Smaller channels can be common in fluvial environments or even in deeper water

environments (flysch sediments). In fluvial sediments they are common on natural
48
levees as crevasse splays, and in the flood basins.
Fig. 4.31 Channel (arrows) incised into fluvial, volcaniclastic sediments of the Colestin formation (Eocene),
Oregon-California border. Width of the channel is ~4-5m.
49
 Scour-and-fill structures
Scour-and-fill structures are similar to channels but are commonly smaller. They
consist of small, filled asymmetrical troughs a few cm to a few m in size.

These structures are most common in sandy sediments and are thought to form
as a result of scour by currents and subsequent backfilling as current velocity
decreases. In contrast to channels, several scour-and-fill structures may occur
together closely spaced in a row. They are primarily structures of fluvial origin that
occur in rivers, alluvial fan, or glacial outwash-plain environments

Boggs (2001) p.110

50
4.4 Bedding-plane Markings
4.4.1 Markings generated by erosion and deposition

For erosional structures to be preserved the sediment has to be sufficiently cohesive

and strong to maintain the erosional relief until it is buried. Erosional structures are
almost always recognized on bedding surfaces as relief on the base of the bed
immediately overlying the erosional surface.

Collinson & Thompson (1989) p.38.

Here, we discuss the erosional structures that occur on the bases of coarser
beds in interbedded sequences (sole marks).
Common agents which produce sole marks are turbidity currents in deep sea (most
common), storm surge in shallow water, sheet floods in semi-arid environments, and
crevasse surges into flood plains. 51
Sole Marks:
• Scour Marks: produced as a result of erosion of a sediment surface by the current
flowing over it.

• Tool Marks: produced by objects carried by the flow rather than by the flow itself.

Scour Marks
Scour marks are distinguished by their generally smooth shape and often by their
rather streamlined appearance. The most important scour mark is flute marks. Flute
marks are characterized by a rounded, although sometimes tightly curved, "nose" at
one end.

The deepest part (i.e. maximum relief)

occurs close to the nose, from which
point the mark flares away and dies out.
Erosion is most concentrated near the
nose of the flute from where it dies out
down stream as the current eddies are
absorbed into the main flow. Flutes are
amongst the most abundant and
important indicators of palaeocurrent
direction. 52
 Base of a bed
(on bedding plane)

Flute marks

53
Fig. 4.36 Flute casts on the base of a turbidite sandstone, Fluornoy formation (Eocene), Oregon Coast Range.
54
The bulbuous terminations of the flute casts indicate that paleocurrent flow was from right to left.
 Tool Marks
They also have rather more sharply defined shapes, and they often carry detailed
patterns of small-scale relief.

Two groups: continuous and discontinuous moving tool marks.

Continuous marks are elongated markings

produced by tools being swept continuously
along the bottom. They include grooves with
sharp and irregular profile; chevrons with
smooth and crenulated appearance.

Discontinuous marks are short, distinct

marks; single or arranged in sets. They are
produced by tools touching the sediment
surface at intervals. They include single prod
marks and bounce marks and repeated
skip marks.

Collinson & Thompson (1989) p.45.

55
 Groove marks

Fig. 4.34 Large intersecting groove casts on the base of a turbidite sandstone bed, Fluornoy Formation
56
(Eocene), Oregon Coast Range.
 4.4.2 Markings generated by deformation: load casts
Load casts: Load casts are swellings ranging from slight bulges, deep or shallow
rounded sacks, knobby excrescences, or highly irregular protuberance. They
occur commonly at the base of sandstone that overlies shale or mudstone.

Load casts formed in any environment where water-saturated muds are quickly
buried by sand before dewatering can take place. Most common in turbidites.

Load casts

57
 58
Fig. 4.37 Irregularly shaped load casts on the base of a loose slab of Cretaceous sandstone, southern Oregon
coast.
4.4.3 Biogenic structures

zoophycus
長枝坑層 （楠梓仙溪）
59
Tracks, trails, burrows, borings (formed in hard substrate), and other
structures made by organisms on bedding surfaces or within beds are known
collectively as trace fossils or ichnofossils. Study of trace fossils comprises the
discipline of ichnology.
Nomenclature for trace fossils:
Ichnogenera: e.g., Ophiomorpha
Ichnospecies: e.g., Ophiomorpha nodosa

Dinosaur tracks
Late Cretaceous
Andes, Bolivia

60
Identifying and naming ichnogenera and
ichnospecies is complex and
controversial because:

(1) The same species can produce different

structures corresponding to different
behaviour patterns.

(2) The same burrow may be differently

preserved in different substrates.

(3) Different trace-makers may produce

identical structures when behaving
similarly.

(4) Multiple architects may produce a single

structure

61
 Ichnofacies
An ichnofacies is an association of contemporaneous, environmentally related traces.
At least 6 ichnofacies have been recognized. These ichnofacies reflect adaptations of trace-
making organisms to environmental factors such as substrate consistency, food supply,
hydrodynamic energy, salinity and oxygen levels (NOTE: NOT paleo-depth). Therefore,
ichnofacies are paleoecological indicators, not infallible paleodepth indicators.
For examples: vertical burrows (dwelling and feeding structures, e.g., Skolithos ichnofacies) in
high energy environments vs. horizontal burrows (grazing structures, e.g, Zoophycos ichnofacies)
in low energy environments. The high and low energy environment maybe somewhat related to
bathymetry.
Boggs (2001) p.117

62
63
The Skolithos ichnofacies is indicative of relatively high levels of wave or current energy,
and typically is developed in slightly muddy to clean well-sorted, loose or shifting articulate
substrate. Most trace makers are suspension feeders. The organisms typically construct
deeply penetrating, more or less permanent domiciles.
The trace fossils are characterized by (1) predominantly vertical, cylindrical or U-shaped
burrows, (2) protrusive and retrusive spreiten in some U-burrows, which develop in
response to substrate aggradation or degradation, (3) few horizontal structures, (4) few
structures produced by mobile organisms, (5) low diversity, although individual forms may
be abundant, (6) mostly dwelling burrows constructed by suspension feeders or passive
carnivores, and (7) vertebrate traces particularly in inter-tidal settings.

Skolithos ichnofacies

Skolithos ichnofacies may

appear in deeper water
deposits wherever energy
levels, food supplies, and
hydrographic and substrate
characteristics are suitable
(e.g., submarine canyons,
deep sea fans, bathyal slopes
swept by strong contour
currents).
64
 Ophiomorpha sp. Skolithos sp.

形態：平行或垂直狀的圓管，直徑約5至 形態：長條豎管狀、無分叉，管徑約1
50公釐，經常有分叉。管壁上有 至15公釐，管長可超過100公
圓球狀的砂球或泥球，做為璧襯。 分。管壁可能沒有壁襯，也可
管長一般約為數十公分，但亦可 能有壁襯，壁襯以泥質或砂粒
長至1公尺。形狀一般在上部為豎 質為主。
管，下部呈分叉狀，分叉管大致 產狀：常見於砂岩中與層面垂直。
平行層面。 分類：居住構造。
產狀：豎管垂直層面，下側分叉管平行層
面。出現於砂層之中。
分類：(蝦子的)居住構造。

65
 The Cruziana ichnofacies is most characteristic of subtidal, poorly sorted and
unconsolidated substrates. Conditions typically range from moderate energy
levels in shallow waters below fair-weather wave base, to low energy levels in
deeper water.
Characteristic organisms include suspension and deposit feeders as well as
mobile carnivores and scavengers. Burrows tend to be constructed horizontally
rather than vertically, although scattered vertical or steeply inclined burrows
occur.
The trace fossils are characterized by

(1) a mixed association of vertical,

Cruziana ichnofacies inclined, and horizontal structures;

(2) presence of traces contstructed by

mobile organisms;

(3) generally high diversity and

abundance;

(4) mostly feeding and grazing

structures constructed by deposit
feeders, except where crawling
traces are predominant. 66
 Chondrites sp.

形態：小型圓管構成的樹枝狀外形結構，由一個或
數個主要的圓管連接成放射狀且有分叉，放
射管向下方分散而逐漸平行層面。放射狀的
分叉館的分叉角度一般介於30°至60°之間，
管口直徑約0.5至5公釐。
產狀：主要出現於泥層之中，偶而可見於砂岩之中。
分類：居住與攝食痕跡。

Hantzschel (1975), p.W51

67
 Paleophycus sp.

形態：圓形或圓錐形的管狀痕，微成弧狀，
一般沒有分叉。管壁成平滑狀，偶有
線形條痕或泥質或鈣質壁襯。長度約
十數公分，直徑約3至15公釐。
產狀：與層面成平行或斜交。出現於泥岩或
粉砂層之中。
紅花子層
分類：生物的攝食與居住痕跡。

Planolites sp.
形態：呈圓形或次圓形的管狀痕，成
直線或微弧狀，沒有分叉管。
長度一般為十數公分至數十公
分，寬度約數公釐至10公釐。
Planolites sp.與Paleophycus
sp.外形類似，但Planolites sp.
沒有壁襯，Paleophycus sp.則
有壁襯。
產狀：常見於泥岩、粉砂岩或砂岩中，
與層面層平行或斜交。 68
紅花子層
分類：攝食痕跡。
 Scolicia sp.

形態：成長帶狀，寬約2至4公分，帶狀的內部有新月形的鰓狀紋，分為兩列或三
列，兩側對稱。呈三列構造者，其兩側為對稱的鰓紋，中間為長條形的背
脊。呈兩列構造者，中間無背脊；兩側為對稱的鰓紋。
產狀：常見於砂岩的表面(出現於岩層內部者稱為Subphyllochorda sp.)
行為：海膽或蠕蟲類生物的匍匐兼攝食痕跡。

紅花子層

69
 Teichichnus sp.

形態：長條板狀的水平或寬大U字型的管重疊而成。有
時成分叉，寬度約1-3公分，長度十數公分至數十
公分。管壁沒有壁襯。
產狀：常見於頁岩與粉砂岩之中，平行或微斜交層面。
行為：蠕蟲類生物的攝食痕跡。

形態：圓形的水平長條管，有分叉，分叉
Thalassinoides sp.
角度經常呈120°，呈網狀結構，偶
而可見部分的豎管。管徑寬1-2公
分，長度可至數公尺。常以泥質圓
球作壁襯。
產狀：平行於層面，常見於泥岩與粉砂岩
之中，尤其在頁岩的層面之上。

長枝坑層

70
 Zoophycos ichnofacies

One of the major environmental controls for the Zoophycos ichnofacies is lowered
oxygen levels associated with abundant organic material in quiet water setting. The
depositional environment corresponds more or less to the continental slope or outer
shelf setting.

The trace fossils are characterized by

(1) low diversity, though individual traces may be abundant;
(2) simple to moderately complex, efficiently executed grazing and feeding structures
produced by deposit feeders; and
(3) horizontal to gently inclined spreiten structures distributed in delicate sheets,
ribbons, lobes or spirals.

71
Zoophycos sp.

形態：螺旋面的圓錐體，圓錐體中心有一豎管，
螺旋面以豎管為中心，向下旋轉數圈。螺
旋面之上的痕紋可分成兩類，一類由許多
旋捲紋平行排列而成，另一類由數十個管
平行排列，圓管之間由平行的線紋排列而
成。螺旋面的直徑一般為數十公分，微成
弧形。螺旋圓錐體的高度亦為數十公分，
垂直層面。

產狀：一般發現於泥岩或粉砂岩之中，螺旋面
與層面平行，圓錐體與層面垂直。

行為：生物的攝食與居住痕跡。

72
The Nereites ichnofacies occurs in bathyal to abyssal quiet but oxygenated waters,
commonly influenced by turbidity currents. It is restricted primarily to turbidite
successions. The trace fossils are characterized by

(1) high diversity but low abundance;

(2) complex horizontal grazing traces and patterned feeding/dwelling structures
reflecting highly organized efficient behaviour;

Nereites ichnofacies
(3) spreite are typically nearly planar;
(4) numerous crawling and/or grazing
traces and sinuous fecal castings
(Helminthoida, Cosmorhaphe)
that are mostly intrastratal;
(5) structures produced by deposit
feeders and scavengers;
(6) possible structures associated
with trapping or farming microbes
within essentially permanent open
domiciles (Paleodictyon,
Megagrapton).

73
 Paleodictyon sp.

形態：一般呈多個六角形連接的幾何狀外形，及類似蜂窩狀之圖形。六角形的
直徑約0.1至10公釐。直徑愈大，其六角形外形愈不明顯，而變為不規則
狀的多邊形。
產狀：平行層面，皆發現於複理層砂岩的底部，為拓印的痕跡(即於泥層表面形
成後，再拓印於上覆的砂層底部)。

74
 Stromatolites
Stromatolites are organically
formed, laminated structures
composed of fine silt- or clay-
sized sediment or, more rarely,
sand-sized sediment.

Stromatolites are formed largely

by the trapping and binding
activites of blue-gree algae
(cyanobacteria). Today they are
formed in shallow subtidal,
intertidal, and supratidal zones of
the ocean and lacustrine
environments.

Fig. 4.40 Structures of hemispherical

stromatolites showing examples of
laterally linked hemispheroids, vertically
stacked hemispheroids, and discrete
spheroids.
75
Fig. 4.39 Stromatolites in limestones of the Helena Formation (Precambrian), Glacier National Park, Montana.
76
Modern stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia 77
 4.4.4 Bedding-plane markings of miscellaneous origin

Mud cracks

Fig. 4.41 Ancient mudcracks on the surface of a rock slab (age?), Death
Valley, California. 78
 Syneresis cracks
This structure is traditionally ascribed to subaqueous shrinkage whereby salinity
changes caused deflocculation of clay.

Shapes of syneresis cracks on bedding planes, traced from photographs.

79
Pratt (1998) Sedimentary Geology
Parting lineation

Fig. 4.42 Parting lineation in sandstone,

Haymond Formation, Texas. Paleocurrent flow
was parallel to the lineation.

Parallel-laminated medium and fine

sands often show parting lineation
on bedding planes, indicating
sediments were deposited in upper-
flow regimes.

80
 4.6 Paleocurrent analysis from sedimentary structures

Paleocurrent indicators: Pitch

Give direction of movement (azimuth) 44°/SE

• Cross-bedding and cross-lamination (measuring attitude of foresets)

• Current ripples on bedding planes (measuring pitch of the direction of
movement)
• Scour marks (pitch of the direction of movement)
• Gravel imbrications (a-axis perpendicular to flows)

Flute

Ripples

Cross-bedding

81
 Give line of movement (trend)
• Tool marks Tool marks
• Parting lineation (pitch of lineaments)
• Glacial striations
• Gravel imbrication (a-axis parallel to
flows)

Parting lineation
Slump fold (fold axis parallel to strike of
paleoslope, anticlinal overturning downslope)

82
Downslope direction?
 Steps to correct the orientation of a planar structure
(e.g., cross-bedding, if fold plunge is negligible and no block rotation).
1. Measure the attitude of the planar structure and plot the pole for this
plane on a stereonet.
2. Similarly plot the pole of the bed that contains the structure.
3. Rotate the latter to the horizontal and rotate the former by the same
number of degrees.
4. The new position of the pole to the planar sedimentary structure now
gives its orientation with tilt removed.
For planar features, if tectonic dip < 5°, the amount of tilt correction is small.
Example: Bedding: N55°W,50°NE;
cross-bedding: N30°W,55°NE
Stage 1: plot poles of bedding (a) and cross
bedding (b)
Stage 2: bring bedding to horizontal by (i) rotating
stereogram so that pole of bedding (a)
comes to equatorial line. (ii) move pole
of bedding (a) to centre (i.e. through 50° Result: direction of
to bring to horizontal) and move pole of movement: 120°; original
cross-bedding (b) 50° along a small circle. dip of cross-bedding is
Stage 3: rotate stereogram back and read off 20°.
original dip directions (i.e. paleocurrent)
for the cross-bedding.
83
 Steps to correct the azimuth of a linear structure
(if fold plunge is negligible and no block rotation).

1. Measure the attitute of the bedding surface and plot the surface as a great circle on a
stereonet.
2. On the bedding surface, measure the acute angle between the sedimentary structure
and the strike of the bed (i.e. pitch or rake) and give direction (e.g., SE) of direction of
movement. The pitch can be mark on the great circle as a point.
3. Rotate the great circle to the horizontal and with it the pitch of the linear structure; the
effect of tilt on the azimuth of the structure is now removed and the azimuth can be
determined.

For linear features, if tectonic dip < 25°, the amount of tilt correction is small.

Example: bed: N45°W,50°SW;

linear feature: pitch 20° to the SE.

Result: direction of movement (Y)=155°

84
 Presentation of results

Measurements are grouped into classes of 10°, 15°, 20° or 30° intervals
(depending on the number of readings and variability) and then plotted on a rose
diagram, choosing a suitable scale along the radius for the number of readings.

Known direction Only line of movement

of movement is known

Paleocurrent patterns:
• Unimodal: one dominant current direction
• Bimodal bipolar: two opposite directions
• Bimodal oblique: two current directions at an angle less than 180°
• Polymodal: several dominant directions

Fluvial, deltaic and turbidite basins: paleocurrents related to paleoslopes.

Shoreline, shelf, desert environments: paleocurrents NOT related to paleoslopes.
85
Fig. 4. 43 Hypothetical paleocurrent data plotted as rose diagrams: unimodal, bimodal, and polymodal
patterns of paleoflow directions are shown. N=number of measurements (directions) taken in the field.
86
Paleocurrent patterns of principal depositional environments

87
 Sedimentary Geology Practical 1
Paleocurrent analysis
Bed Cross-bed
Using the data given in the table, reorientate the cross-
N48W,28NE N89E,39N bedding measurements to their position before tectonic
N14W,52NE N42W,34NE tilting. Plot the foreset azimuths as a rose diagram using
N22W,32NE N90E,5N 15° intervals.
N17W,30SW N18W,50SW
N0E,38E N33W,24NE Hint:
N26W,49SW N12W,69SW (1) 15° intervals mean that azimuths from 1° to 15° (or 15°
N15E,42SE N30E,22SE to 30° etc.), for example, are plotted together as one
“direction”;
N42W,47NE N67W,59NE
N24W,38SW N10E,34W
(2) the scale along the radius is 10% to 20%, 30% … The
N22W,40NE N19W,17NE
scale is the percentage for which each “direction”
N0E,46E N27E,39SE covers (for example, 5 out of 20 azimuth readings
N33W,37NE N81W,36N spanning from 1° to 15°, hence the percentage for the
N61W,36NE N75E,35NW “direction” of 1°~15° is 5/20=25%).
N6W,48SW N0E,64W
N18W,61NE N23W,45NE
N0E,20E N80W,6N
N11W,64E N8E,62E
N10W,42E N42W,37NE
N0E,12E N80W,12S
88
N20W,16W N23E,38NW
 89
WULFF NET
 Stereographic plot of a plane and its pole
Bed: N30E,40SE

Perspective view

Pole

Great circle
90