Left to right are Peter Haughton, Christopher Kendall, Emiliani Mutti, Arnold Bouma and William Helland-Hansen

Introduction

Sedimentary structures associated with the sediments of deepwater settings are used in conjunction with lithology and geometry to determine how these sediments were transported to and accumulated at their current location. They are also used to determine how this setting may have changed following sediment accumulation.

Most of deepwater sedimentary structures are the products of various sub-aqueous density flows and other mechanisms involved with the transportation and deposition of the associated sediment. These sedimentary structures include "primary" sedimentary structures that are associated with deepwater sedimentary systems and form during (or shortly after) deposition. Other deepwater sedimentary structures are "secondary" and form after sediment deposition and include features formed in response to dewatering, post deposition down-slope movement, and the products of organisms burrowing and building structures.

The primary sedimentary structures can be used to determine paleocurrent direction of flow or orientation of flow across fans and in the deeper portions of the basin of deposition. Some of these sedimentary structures provide flow direction with relation to the outcrop and the time at which the sediment accumulated. Statistic analyses of these structures provide information on the average current directions within the basin of deposition.

Sedimentary structures

	Click on image to link to deepwater structure galleries
Fans, Channels & their Fill
Graded Beds
Condensed beds
Varves & laminae
Slumping
Sole marks
Ripples
Hummocky Beds
Flute casts
Grooves
Prod Marks
Dewatering Structures
Flames
Ball & pillow
Elephant skin
Submarine volcanos
Ichonology
Tracks & trails
Burrows

Depositional Setting and Sedimentary Structures

Links to Photo Galleries of Turbidites

Dawn Sumner of UC Davis has an eclectic gallery of annotated turbidite pictures, some of which have been included in this web site in the gallery illustrating sedimentary structures associated with deepwater sedimentation.

Paul Heller of the University of Wyoming has placed notes, and power point lectures with field photos, and movies of turbidites on line. Some of his photographs have been included on in the gallery above of sedimentary structures associated with deepwater sedimentation.

References Cited
Nilsen, Tor H., Gary S. Steffens, and Joseph J. R. Studlick, 2006, "Mass Transport Deposits in Deepwater Outcrops: Depositional Setting(s), Types, and Recognition", SEPM Research Symposium: The Significance of Mass Transport Deposits in Deepwater Environments II, AAPG Annual Convention, April 9-12, 2006 Technical Program
Reading, H. G., & Richards, M. (1994). "Turbidite systems in deep-water basin margins classified by grain size and feeder system". Bull. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol., 78, 792-822.
Stow, D.A.V., 1994. "Deep-sea processes of sediment transport and deposition. In: Sediment Transport and Depositional Processes", ed. by K. Pye, Blackwell Sci. Publ. pp 257-293.
Stow, D.A.V. and Mayall, M., editors, 2000. Deep-water Sedimentary Systems: Thematic Set, Marine and Petroleum Geology, Volume 17, No. 2.