The AGI dictionary of Geological Terms defines a surface as the exterior part or outside of a body. It also forms the top of the ground, the soil, clay, etc., on the top of strata.
Thus the depositional surface is the surface overlying a layer, or bed, of accumulating or accumulated sediment, marking its current upper limit. The character of the depositional surface may be modified by erosion, cementation, boring, or bioturbation, and is often used to aid the interpretation of the depositional setting of sedimentary rocks. It may form the lower portion of a bedding plane.
Hierarchies in the character of bedding planes has been used to build interpretive models of the sedimentary section, particularly lately in sequence stratigraphy. Brookfield (1977) recognized a hierarchical order to bedding planes of erosional origin in aeolian sediment; Allen (1983) and Miall (1985) for fluvial systems; and Pickering et al's (1989) as bounding the architectural elements of deepwater systems.
Cited References
Allen, J. R. L. 1983, Studies in fluviatile sedimentation: bars, bar complexes and sandstone sheets (low sinuosity braided streams) in the Brownstones (L. Devonian), Welsh Borders. Sedimentary Geology, 33, 237-293.
Brookfield M. E. 1977, The origin of bounding surfaces in ancient aeolian sandstones: Sedimentology, v. 24, p. 303-332
Miall 1985, Architectural elements and bounding surfaces: A new method of facies analysis applied to fluvial deposits: Earth-Science Reviews, v, 22, p. 261-308
Pickering, K.T., Hiscott, R., and Hein, F.J., 1989. Deep-marine Environments: Clastic Sedimentation and Tectonics: London (Unwin Hyman).
