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AN OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY OF A FLUVIAL BAR
Author(s) -
DAVIES DAVID K.,
EHRLICH ROBERT
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
sedimentology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.494
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1365-3091
pISSN - 0037-0746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3091.1966.tb01592.x
Subject(s) - sedimentary rock , point bar , bar (unit) , geology , texture (cosmology) , sediment , fluvial , sedimentary structures , point (geometry) , sedimentary depositional environment , geometry , geomorphology , paleontology , structural basin , computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , image (mathematics) , oceanography
SUMMARY The objective characterisation of sedimentary structures has not had as robust a development as more qualitative approaches. Using KRYNINE'S definition (1948, p. 145) that sedimentary structure is the “visible expression of non‐uniformity in texture and composition”, a method is here developed that yields data which are a function of the thickness and orientation of the visually homogeneous elements that, juxtaposed, comprise a sedimentary structure. This method, based upon a progressive enlargement of the field of vision about a point until the included area is first non‐uniform, yields a series of diameters which are related to both structural type and sampling plan. Exposures of sediment on a point‐bar in the Mississippi River were studied in this manner and it was determined that the method efficiently discriminated between structural varieties, and additionally allows the structural complexity of a point‐bar to be given a succinct quantitative description.