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Giant‐scale hydroplastic deformation structures formed by the loading of basalt onto water‐saturated sand, Middle Proterozoic, Northern Territory, Australia
Author(s) -
NEEDHAM R. S.
Publication year - 1978
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.1365-3091.1978.tb00313.x
Subject(s) - geology , basalt , deformation (meteorology) , proterozoic , scale (ratio) , sediment , geotechnical engineering , petrology , geomorphology , geochemistry , paleontology , tectonics , oceanography , physics , quantum mechanics
Large‐scale circular (up to 250 m diameter) and rectilinear (up to 50 m across) depressions form regular ‘honeycomb’ patterns on pavements exhumed from below basalt flows in Carpentarian (1800‐1400 m.y.) sandstone of northern Australia. They are likened to soft‐sediment deformation structures produced experimentally in systems with reverse density gradients. The structures represent an intermediate scale between soft‐sediment deformation (small‐scale) and orogenic deformation (large‐scale).