Depositional Structures of Chemical and

Biological Origin
Chemical precipitation
For any mineral to be precipitated inorganically, an aqueous
solution must be super-saturated with respect to that mineral.
When super-saturation is achieved, precipitation takes place so
long as other ions in the solution do not interfere with crystal growth.
Nucleation can occur spontaneously anywhere within the water column
or on objects already on the floor basin. Crystals that nucleate at the
water surface may float for a while, held by surface tension, and may
exceptionally form rafts or crusts.
For well formed crystals to develop, they need both free space
and an interval of time.
Processes of nucleation and crystal growth can be modelled in the
laboratory by allowing 1000 ml of a saturated solution of sodium chloride
to evaporate gradually in a suitable tank.
 Laminated evaporites
A common feature of many
ancient evaporite-bearing sequences
is a fine, millimeter-scale
interlamination of different mineral
phases or of an evaporite mineral
and organic-rich material.
Ungraded laminae probably
record periods of settling of crystals
precipitated at the water surface,
possibly on a seasonal basis.

Fig. 1 Two cores in thinly

bedded anhydrite with bedding
defined by slight grain-size
differences and impurities.
Cores are 9 cm wide.
 Fabrics due to vertical crystal growth
Growth of crystals on the basin floor
commonly produces a distinctive fabric. Growth is
most rapid parallel to certain crystallographic axes,
commonly the c-axis. Crystal that precipitate with
the water column fall to the bottom with different
orientations.
Records of the the instantaneous position
of this surface are sometimes picked out in ancient
evaporites by thin layers or drapes of argillaceous
sediment deposited during events such as river
floods into saline lakes or storms in lagoons.
Sediment-laden fresh water river water floats over
the brines, ensuring widespread distribution of the
suspended sediment.

Fig. 2 Columnar crystal growth in halite, interrupted by solution surfaces

which record intervals of reduced salinity. Upper part of photograph
shows randomly oriented halite cubes in fine sediment matrix.
 Discontinuities in the crystal fabric
These discontinuities record periods of solution of the evaporite
surface, probably associated with major storm or flood events that
temporarily reduced salinity below saturation level.

Pseudomorphs
Some sequences, usually of interbedded sandstone and mudstone
or, less commonly limestone and mudstone, show evidence of former
evaporites, usually halite or gypsum, in the form of pseudomorphs. The
original evaporite crystal have been replaced by sandstone or limestone
but the mineralogy of the evaporite can still be deduced from the shape of
the pseudomorph.
Larger pseudomorphs commonly show a pattern of steps on their
faces, giving them an indented ‘hopper’ form.
Pseudomorphs record the former presence of evaporite crystals
growing at or just below the muddy sediment surface from an overlying
super-saturated brine.
 Preservation of pseudomorphs takes place as the result of a rapid
influx of sediment-laden water, probably by a flood. This dissolves the
crystals on the basin floor and fills the resulting spaces with coarser
sediment. This mechanism is sometimes borne out by the occurrence of
small erosional marks with the pseudomorphs.

Fig. 3 Halite pseudomorphs on the bases of

sandstone beds from a thinly interbedded
sandstone/siltstone sequence: (a)
pseudomorphs of crystals developed in
rows; (b) larger pseudomorphs with stepped
‘hopper’ faces.
 Diagenetic and reworked evaporites
Not all evaporite minerals occur as primary, basin-floor
precipitates. Many occur as diagenetic concretions or nodules fored within
a host sediment.
Some evaporites show structutes due to physical processes of
erosion and deposition. Small-scale scours, ripples, cross lamination and
cross bedding are all quite common and they record the reworking of
primarily precipitated evaporites by currents, waves or even by the wind,
as shown by the large aeolian dunes of gypsum found in New Mexico.
 Spring deposits: tufa, travertine and sinter
Two principal groups of deposition occur: calcium carbonate and silica.
Deposits of calcium carbonate are precipitated from both hot and
cold springs and the precipitation may be due to cooling, evaporation, loss
of dissolved carbon dioxide, or to chemical reaction, all of which may be
aided by algae. One form of calcium carbonate is tufa which commonly
occurs as a coating on plants and plant debris. Its texture is usually highly
porous and spongy, and plant impressions may often be found within it. A
second, more laminated and compact form of calcium carbonate is
travertine, which occurs commonly in caves as stalactites, dripstone, etc.
and also as the surface deposits of both hot and cold springs.
Deposits of silica are confined to hot springs and geysers and are
known as sinter or geyserite. These occur as encrustations around
geysers and springs and they develop a wide variety of surface
morphologies.
 Precipitation and binding of sediment by organisms
Reefs and bioherms
Many animals and plants living in the sea and in freshwater
settings produce aragonite and calcite as skeletal or other strengthening
structures (e.g. corals, echinoids, and calcareous algae).
Some skeletons remain more or less intact to become sedimentary
particles in their own right, and others disintegrate or are broken up and
abraded. The fine needles of aragonite, which make up much of the lime
mud of present-day carbonate environments and which gave rise to many
micritic limestones, result from precipitation by calcareous algae.
Such features had topographic expression on the
comtemporaneous sea floor and have been termed build-ups, reefs,
mounds, or bioherms. They vary greatly in size, in morphology and in
their organic make-up, which has changed throughout geological time as
different groups of organisms became important.
 At the present day, reefs occur as barriers, running for long
distances parallel to a shoreline and separating the open ocean from a
more protected lagoonal area. Others are fringing reefs which encircle
islands and may have a lagoon or reef flat between the reef edge and the
land. Atolls are reefs that encircle a lagoon which lacks a central landmass
at the present day.
At a smaller scale, small organic build-ups or patch reefs occur
within lagoons and in other shallow marine settings. Smaller reef forms
can commonly be recognized in quarries and cliffs.
Smaller bioherms and their associated sediments are commonly
divided into reef core, reef flank and inter-reef components. Larger
reefs, which are more likely to have acted as barriers between areas of
contrasting water depth, are often more appropriately divided into fore-
reef, reef and back-reef components.
 The reef core is usually a tightly bound mass of limestone,
generally without any clear bedding. The back-reef or inter-reef sediments
show more defined, horizontal bedding.

Fig. 4 Definition diagrams for the major subdivisions of reefs: (a) isolated
reef mound; (b) barrier reef at the boundary between deeper and
shallower water showing main growth forms of reef-building organisms.
Fig. 5 (a) Exhumed reef topography due to
the removal of later softer sediments which
blanketed the contemporary topography;
(b) small patch reef with similar inter-reef
sediments on both sides.
 Stromatolites and oncolites: structures due to algal binding
Stromatolites and oncolites are structures that show fine
lamination caused by the trapping and binding of material by algae.
Stromatolitic lamination is commonly found in mud-size carbonate
sediment although coarser-grained carbonate and detrital material can
also be involved. Lamination is characteristically thin, usually 1 mm or less,
and has a rather delicate appearance. The forms which the lamination
takes are extremely varied and several taxonomic schemes have been
proposed for them.
Within bioherms or biostromes, the stromatolitic lamination may
be organized into either columnar or non-columnar forms, and these in
turn show a great variety of shape and scale. Columns tend to be circular
or elliptical in plan view, the latter type sometimes having a preferred
direction to their long axes.
Within a biostrome or bioherm there may be both lateral and
vertical variation and a full description should include not only the size and
shape of the stromatolitic unit, but also the types, scale, orientation and
distribution of different types of lamination.
Fig. 6 Definition
diagram of the
main terms used in
the description of
stromatolite bodies
and stromatolitic
lamination.
Fig. 7 Various examples
of stromatolitic
lamination seen in
vertical section.

Fig. 8 Horizontal
sections through
stromatolite columns.
 Stromatolitic lamination results from the trapping and binding of
sediment by the mucilageous filaments of algae which form mats growing
on the sediment surface.
The lamination is produced by variation in sediment supply giving
more and less organic-rich layers.
The commonly stated view that stromatolites are indicators of
intertidal conditions is misleading and, for Precambrian examples
particularly, there seem to be no environmental requirements other than
the availability of water and sunlight.

Fig. 8 Stromatolite domes

with their three-dimensional
relief preserved on the upper
bedding surface.
Oncolites are spherical or less well
rounded structures, commonly up to 5
mm in diameter but sometimes bigger,
often with a rather flattened shape.
Internally they have a roughly
concentric pattern of line lamination
similar to that present in stromatolites.
These structures occur in both
ancient limestones and in present-day
lagoons and lakes. Oncolites may be
confused with diagenetically formed
pisoliths which occur in some
carbonate-rich soil profiles.

Fig. 10 Cross sections through oncolites

showing internal lamination.