Mudcracks

Mudcracks form in very fine clay material that has dried out. As the moisture is removed, the surface will split into
cracks that extend a short way down into the mud. These cracks form polygons on the surface of the mud. The top of
the bed has the widest distance between the polygons and the cracks taper downwards into the bed. If later sediments
come and fill in the cracks and are preserved, the relationship of the bed to the tapered feature will be saved. The tips
of the cracks are always oriented downwards, pointing to the bed base or older part
of the formation.

Plan view of modern mudcracks and chips,

Which way is up?

There are a few ways that mudcracks can be used to figure out the original orientation of a rock that contains them. In
the photograph to the right, the edges of the mudchips are curled upward. This curling of the chip edges can be
preserved and will point to which way was up.

A second way of determining stratigraphic up is by looking at a plan view

of cracks that have formed, like you were a bird flying over the
mudcracks. They have a typical semi-regular pattern of polygons that
form across the surface. An example of this from a modern environment
is shown in the photo to the left. This polygon-laced surface is often
preserved. When geologists see this pattern in a rock that is being studied,
they can tell that they are looking down onto the top of an ancient surface.

Cross bedding

Formation of Cross Beds

When a depositional environment has sand in it and water or air moves

the sand grains around, those grains can build up into piles of sediment.
When the sediment piles reach a height where they are unstable - called
the angle of repose - the grains will avalanche down the side of the pile
and make a thin depositional layer of the grains that moved. Over time,
multiple avalanching episodes will result in many thin parallel layers next
to one another. These are called cross bedded laminae, because they form
at an angle to the horizontal nature of the main bed. See the graphic below
for an idea of how these cross-beds form over time.
Which way is up?

When cross beds form, the grains avalanche down the face of the form as previously mentioned. As with any item that
falls downhill, there is a zone of "run out" at the bottom - the grains do not just roll to the base of the bed and stop
immediately. The grains will fall down the side and roll a little distance along the surface until they lose momentum.
This makes a sort of "tail" to the cross bedded laminae that lays on top of the bottom bedding surface which we can use
to determine stratigraphic up. On the other hand, the top of cross beds are not typically preserved because subsequent
movement of grains erodes this part. The result is a rock that has a base portion which shows the "run out" of the
avalanching grains and a top that is truncated by the next bedding plane.

The photo to the left shows a well-formed set of cross beds. The same photo is shown next to it, this time with outlines
showing the bottom and top portions of a single cross bed along with inner lines that follow a couple of cross bedded
laminae. Note how the tops of the cross bed lines are cut off by the top of the bed and the lower parts of the cross bed
lines comes down to and then follow along the bottom of the bed. This shows us that this bed is in a stratigraphic up
position.

GRADED BEDDING means that the grain size within a bed

decreases upwards. This type of bedding is commonly associated
with so called turbidity currents. Turbidity currents originate on the
the slope between continental shelves and deep sea basins. They are
initiated by slope failure (see diagram below), after sediment
buildup has steepened the slope for a while, often some high energy
event (earthquake) triggers downslope movement of sediment. As
this submarine landslide picks up speed the moving sediment mixes
with water, and forms eventually a turbid layer of water of higher
density (suspended sediment) that accelerates downslope (may pick
up more sediment). When the flow reaches the deep sea basin/deep sea plain, the acceleration by gravity stops, and the
flow decelerates. As it slows down the coarsest grains settle out first, then the next finer ones, etc. Finally a graded bed
is formed. However, decelerating flow and graded bedding are no unique feature of deep sea sediments (fluvial
sediments -- floods; storm deposits on continental shelves), but in those other instances the association of the graded
beds with other sediments is markedly different (mud-cracks in fluvial sediments, wave ripples in shelf deposits).
 6.4 Sedimentary Structures and Fossils
Through careful observation over the past few centuries, geologists have discovered that
the accumulation of sediments and sedimentary rocks takes place according to some
important geological principles, as follows:

 The principle of original horizontality states that sediments accumulate in

essentially horizontal layers. The implication is that tilted sedimentary layers observed
to day must have been subjected to tectonic forces.
 The principle of superposition states that sedimentary layers are deposited in
sequence, and that unless the entire sequence has been turned over by tectonic
processes, the layers at the bottom are older than those at the top.
 The principle of inclusions states that any rock fragments in a sedimentary layer
must be older than the layer. For example, the cobbles in a conglomerate must have
been formed before the conglomerate.
 The principle of faunal succession states that there is a well-defined order in which
organisms have evolved through geological time, and therefore the identification of
specific fossils in a rock can be used to determine its age.

In addition to these principles that apply to all sedimentary rocks, a number of other
important characteristics of sedimentary processes lead to the development of
distinctive sedimentary features in specific sedimentary environments. By
understanding the origins of these features, we can make some very useful inferences
about the processes that led to deposition the rocks that we are studying.

Bedding, for example, is the separation of sediments into layers that either differ from
one another in textures, composition, colour, or weathering characteristics, or are
separated by partings — narrow gaps between adjacent beds (Figure 6.19). Bedding is
an indication of changes in depositional processes that may be related to seasonal
differences, changes in climate, changes in locations of rivers or deltas, or tectonic
changes. Partings may represent periods of non-deposition that could range from a few
decades to a few centuries. Bedding can form in almost any depositional environment.
 Figure 6.19 The Triassic Sulphur
Mt. Formation near Exshaw, Alberta. Bedding is defined by differences in colour and texture,
and also by partings (gaps) between beds that may otherwise appear to be similar.

Cross-bedding is bedding that contains angled layers and forms when sediments are
deposited by flowing water or wind. Some examples are shown in Figures 6.1, 6.8b, and
6.20. Cross-beds in streams tend to be on the scale of centimetres to tens of
centimetres, while those in aeolian(wind deposited) sediments can be on the scale of
metres to several metres.

Figure 6.20 Cross-bedded Jurassic

Navajo Formation aeolian sandstone at Zion National Park, Utah. In most of the layers the cross-
beds dip down toward the right, implying wind direction from right to left during deposition.
One bed dips in the opposite direction, implying an abnormal wind.

Cross-beds form as sediments are deposited on the leading edge of an advancing ripple
or dune. Each layer is related to a different ripple that advances in the flow direction,
and is partially eroded by the following ripple (Figure 6.21). Cross-bedding is a very
important sedimentary structure to recognize because it can provide information on the
direction of current flows and, when analyzed in detail, on other features like the rate of
flow and the amount of sediment available.

Figure 6.21 Formation of cross-

beds as a series of ripples or dunes migrates with the flow. Each ripple advances forward (right
to left in this view) as more sediment is deposited on its leading face.

Graded bedding is characterized by a gradation in grain size from bottom to top

within a single bed. “Normal” graded beds are coarse at the bottom and become finer
toward the top, a product of deposition from a slowing current (Figure 6.22). Some
graded beds are reversed (coarser at the top), and this normally results from deposition
by a fast-moving debris flow (see Chapter 15). Most graded beds form in a submarine-
fan environment (see Figure 6.17), where sediment-rich flows descend periodically from
a shallow marine shelf down a slope and onto the deeper sea floor.

Figure 6.22 A graded turbidite bed in Cretaceous

Spray Formation rocks on Gabriola Island, B.C. The lower several centimetres of sand and silt
probably formed over the duration of an hour. The upper few centimetres of fine clay may have
accumulated over a few hundred years.

Ripples, which are associated with the formation of cross-bedding, may be preserved
on the surfaces of sedimentary beds. Ripples can also help to determine flow direction
as they tend to have their steepest surface facing down flow.

In a stream environment, boulders, cobbles, and pebbles can become imbricated,

meaning that they are generally tilted in the same direction. Clasts in streams tend to
tilt with their upper ends pointing downstream because this is the most stable position
with respect to the stream flow (Figure 6.23 and Figure 6.8c).
 Figure 6.23 An illustration of
imbrication of clasts in a fluvial environment.

Mud cracks form when a shallow body of water (e.g., a tidal flat or pond), into which
muddy sediments have been deposited, dries up and cracks (Figure 6.24). This happens
because the clay in the upper mud layer tends to shrink on drying, and so it cracks
because it occupies less space when it is dry.

The various structures described above are critical to understanding and interpreting
the formation of sedimentary rocks. In addition to these, geologists also look very
closely at sedimentary grains to determine their mineralogy or lithology (in order to
make inferences about the type of source rock and the weathering processes), their
degree of rounding, their sizes, and the extent to which they have been sorted by
transportation and depositional processes.

Figure 6.24 Mudcracks in volcanic mud at a hot-

spring area near Myvatn, Iceland [SE]

We won’t be covering fossils in any detail in this book, but they are extremely important
for understanding sedimentary rocks. Of course, fossils can be used to date sedimentary
rocks, but equally importantly, they tell us a great deal about the depositional
environment of the sediments and the climate at the time. For example, they can help to
differentiate marine, aquatic, and terrestrial environments; estimate the depth of the
water; detect the existence of currents; and estimate average temperature and
precipitation.

The tests of tiny marine organisms (mostly foraminifera) have been recovered from
deep-ocean sediment cores from all over the world, and their isotopic signatures have
been measured. As we’ll see in Chapter 19, this provides us with information about the
changes in average global temperatures over the past 65 million years.