Occurrence and sedimentology
Beachrock comprises sediments deposited in the intertidal zone on the beach face, beach berm, upper shoreface, and on tidal flats that have been cemented in situ to form an indurated sedimentary rock. Beachrock outcrops are ubiquitous along modern tropical and subtropical shorelines bounded by 35° N and 35° S (Scoffin and Stoddart, 1983) (Figure B3). Beachrock forms pavements and can comprise sand to shingle size clasts forming a sandstone or conglomerate, but predominantly comprises carbonate sands. The physical sedimentology of beachrock is similar to that for cay sandstone that forms in the supratidal zone (Kuenen, 1950), submerged dune calcarenite and emerged reef rock (Hopley, 1986), although the characteristic cements of each of these rock types are distinguishable. The internal stratigraphy of beach and upper shoreface deposits is preserved during the formation of beachrock, and is often recognized by seaward dipping planar beds outcropping on the...
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Goodwin, I.D. (2009). Beachrock. In: Gornitz, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_21
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