Classification of primary sedimentary structures

Abstract

The authors do not know of any serious attempt to classify all sedimentary structures. Several partial classifications, however, have been proposed. Most important are those which deal primarily with bedding. The most comprehensive of these are those of Andrée (1915), Hoppe (1930), Andersen (1931), Zhenchuzhnikov (1940), Bruns (1954), Birkenmajer (1959) and Botvinkina (1960, 1962). These classifications deal not only with external form but also with internal structure and some of them include the sequential arrangements, in part cyclical, of differing lithologies. Other partial classifications of sedimentary structures include those dealing with hieroglyphs of Krejci-Graf (1932) and Vassoevich (1953). Recent classifications of sole marks, another group of structures, are those of Crowell (1955) and Kuenen (1957).