Premium
Discussion: “Mud dispersal across a Cretaceous prodelta: Storm‐generated, wave‐enhanced sediment gravity flows inferred from mudstone microtexture and microfacies” by Plint ([Plint, A.G., 2014]), Sedimentology 61, 609–647
Author(s) -
Schieber Juergen
Publication year - 2015
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/sed.12150
Subject(s) - sedimentology , geology , cretaceous , sediment , biogeosciences , biological dispersal , paleontology , geomorphology , earth science , population , demography , sociology
This discussion aims to comment on aspects in a recent paper by Plint (2014) where mud transport during deposition of prodeltaic strata of the Cretaceous Dunvegan Formation is examined. The author has made considerable effort to look at the grain scale fabric of these rocks, and by adding data from drill core also made a good argument that the fabrics of outcrop samples were not fundamentally altered by weathering processes. The author concludes that a considerable portion of the clays in these mudstones did not arrive in discrete flakes or in a flocculated state, but as aggregates that were at least in part transported in bedload. The presumed aggregates are similar in size to the quartz silt grains that they are associated with, and are in essence their hydraulic equivalents. There are, however, issues with the proposed origins of the various types of mud aggregates that are described. Although these concerns may seem subtle to those that are not engaged in