STRUCTURES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

1. PHYSICAL STRUCTURES

BEDDING

 Bedding – the arrangement of sediments or strata

o Stratum – an individual layer of rock with a thickness of 1 cm or greater
- It is separated from the strata above and below by:
i. Distinct change in lithology
ii. Physical break (bedding plane)
o Lamina – similar to a stratum but has a thickness of less than 1 cm
- Laminae – surfaces of poor cohesion between thick beds along which the rock can be
split into thin sheets.

Presence of a conspicuous A SLIGHT INTERRUPTION in the

BEDDING PLANE deposition of the sediment
 - Lamination of fine-grained rocks results from:
i. Alternation of granular with clayey layers
ii. The parallelism of flat grains and flaky minerals
- The type of lamination seen in sandstones and shales are due to rapid alteration of
coarser and finer materials
 Fissility - the characteristic of shale to split evenly into thin layers of uniform thickness.

Ex. Stephen Formation (Burgess Shale)

Weathering exploits the planes of weakness in the rock.

 https://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2014/10/26/bedding-cleavage-relations-stephen-formation-
yoho-np/

GRADED BEDDING AND CURRENT BEDDING

 Graded bedding – consists of particles grading from coarse to fine from bottom to top in bands
- Bands are several feet thick
- Repeated with great regularity through a formation
- Coarser grains at the BOTTOM; finer grains at the TOP

- Succession of graded beds may result from:

i. Seasonal alternations of sedimentations
ii. Torrential deposits
iii. Storms
iv. Successive submarine landslides
 o Turbid currents are favourable for much graded bedding.
- Believed to result from submarine slumps of unconsolidated sediments set off by
earthquakes

Muddy fluid
Fluid sweeps
Sediments in thick and gains
along
slumps set in Churned dense momentum
pebbles and
motion by with water muddy fluid and flows
rock masses
earthquakes formsconditions of deposition
 Current bedding – indicative of shallow-water swiftly
in the slump
- Found in widespread and thinner sandstones downward

CROSS-BEDDING

 Cross-bedding – an arrangement of laminae transverse to the bedding plane in straight sloping

lines or concave forms
- Tangential to the lower bedding plane and truncated
- It consists of sets of beds that are:
i. Similarly shaped
 ii. Approximately parallel
iii. Of considerable lateral extent
iv. Of local lenses or wedges
v. Of limited and generally moderate thickness
vi. Separated from other sets by persistent stratigraphic planes

- Results from water and wind action

o Aeolian cross-bedding - steeper than aqueous cross-bedding.

- Deeps about 40° maximum; most are less than 25°
- More irregular than aqueous in terms of shape of sets and dip direction
o Aqueous cross-bedding - regular sets with parallel surfaces and beds dipping constantly in
one direction

 Crustal movements that may alter initial attitude of sedimentary surfaces after deposition
o Uplift
o Subsidence
o Tilting
o Warping
 Cross-bedding represents true bedding that has resulted from interrupted or variable
sedimentary deposition on inclined surfaces.

THREE TYPES OF CROSS-BEDDING

VARVES

 Varves – thin laminae of alternating fine and coarse material, each pair representing the deposit
of a single year
- Swedish, seasonal deposit
o Summer layer of deposit is coarser and consists largely of rock waste
o Winter layer of deposit is finer and richer in organic matter
- Shows the characteristic of twofold layering

Suspended Lakes freeze; Glacial lakes

SPRING
WINTER
SUMMER

clay particles clay particles are nearly

and some and organic clear of
organic matter settle sediments
matter to the bottom
accumulate in as a dark fine-
lakes of grained layer
glaciated area

Varve
SLUMPING AND CONTORTED BEDDING

 Post-depositional structures
 Folding – produced by intrastratal flowage
o Complex small- to medium-scale folding
- Suggests lateral compression
- Moderate slumping of largely unconsolidated sediments in subaqueous environment
 Slumping – involve only thin layers or large masses of plastic sediment
- Takes place at angles less than 5° (places like steep slopes on flanks of reefs or foothills)
o Crumpling and slump on a large scale
- Produced by actual downslope movement of more competent beds.
- Involves intrastratal crumpling and slump in varved clays.
- Folding is intense and recumbent
- Layers maintain continuity and are not disrupted.

Contorting in Bedding

Slumping bedding
LOAD CASTS

 Load casts – rolled and billowed surfaces on the underside of clastic sedimentary rocks such as
sandstone or siltstone
- Develop at the contact between overlying rocks and underlying clay
- Complicated infolding of overlying rock in the clay or mud.
- Likely to develop in rapidly deposited detrital sediments.

Overlying rocks
(sand or silt) Underlying clay

CLASTIC DIKES

 Sandstone dikes – a tabular dike-like mass of sandstone that shows discordant relations to the
bedding of the rocks which they cut.
- Causes deformation of the wall rocks near dikes, dike tongues/apophyses, sills parallel
to bedding
- Clastic dikes are associated with slump structures, intraformational breccias, etc.
- Indicate the unstable condition of geosynclinal sedimentation

2. CHEMICAL STRUCTURES
 Styolites – exceedingly irregular, seismograph-like seams
- Extend and appear to correspond to horizontal or gently dipping bedding planes
- Produced by differential solution along bedding planes and fracture joints
- Develop in response to pressure.
- Owe their existence to solution in solid rock
Evidences:
i. Abundant occurrence and good development only in soluble rocks
ii. Transection of oolites and fossils (destroyed parts)
iii. Occurrence along fractures and joints transverse to bedding.
- Best developed in carbonate rocks
  Concretion – rounded bodies of inorganic origin
- Consists of silica, calcite, sulphide, and a variety of minerals

 Septarians – concretions of shaly composition

- Characterized by presence of irregular, internal tension cracks

 Cone-in-cone – produced by the development of irregular cone-shaped columns

- A type of shear structure

 Geodes – hollow, spherical bodies typically lined with inwardly projecting quartz and other
crystals.

3. ORGANIC STRUCTURES
 Fossils – typical organic structures
- among the most important for interpreting the age of a rock formation and its
conditions of deposition
 Bioherms & biostromes – formed under conditions of prolific life.

SIZE and SHAPE of SEDIMENTARY BODIES

Bodies of Preserved Sedimentary Rocks

 Fans
 Deltas
 Sheets
 Blankets
 Lenses
 Wedges
 Shoestrings

Shapes of Sedimentary Bodies

(ratio of width to thickness)

 Blanket: > 1,000:1

 Tabular: bet. 50:1 and 1,000:1
 Prisms: bet. 5:1 and 50:1
 Shoestring: < 5:1, as small as 1:1

Sizes of Sedimentary Bodies (by volume)

 Large: total volume of more than 500 cu mi

 Medium: volume bet. 1 and 500 cu mi
 Small: volume less than 1 cu mi