Sedimentary Structures

Now enhanced with colour photographs and illustrations, this thoroughly revised fourth edition of Sedimentary Structures enhances its status as a major textbook in geology. Since its first publication in 1982, Sedimentary Structures has established and maintained itself as a pre-eminent resource that sets out a clear methodology and philosophy for understanding present-day sediments and sedimentary rocks as the product of dynamic processes. This classic textbook introduces erosional, depositional and post-depositional sedimentary processes in an easily accessible way. It shows how sedimentary structures can be interpreted, across a wide range of scales, in terms of those processes. Sedimentary structures produced by erosion, deposition and post-depositional change are all clearly explained and related to the processes that formed them. Hydrodynamic and aerodynamic controls on the development of subaqueous and aeolian bedforms are discussed, as are the styles of deformation to which sediments can be subjected after deposition. Structures that characterize deposition caused by chemical and biologically influenced processes are explained and illustrated, along with the complex effects of chemical changes, and of animal and plant activity in modifying sediments after they have been deposited. The book ends with an introduction to the methods and principles of environmental interpretation, for which earlier chapters provide an invaluable basis. Sedimentary Structures is designed principally for use in undergraduate settings and will be invaluable to students reading geology, earth sciences, physical geography and environmental sciences throughout their degree studies. The fourth edition covers all major recent developments in the subject. It is characterized by an abundance of informative illustrations and photographic examples and introduces colour figures for the first time. Sedimentary Structures emphasizes a practical, hands-on approach. It remains indispensable to those with a serious interest in the study of sedimentary structures: not only as fascinating features in themselves but also as key indicators in the reconstruction of past environments.