Sedimentary Structures and Early Diagenetic Features of Shallow Marine Carbonate Deposits

Book excerpt: Sedimentary structures remain a foundation for interpreting most ancient depositional environments. The product of physical, biological, or chemical processes either during or following deposition, they almost uniquely attest in the stratigraphic record to these processes. Most sedimentary structures are sufficiently complex as to defy communication by other than visual representation. Our ability to effectively utilize structures depends in large part on the visual images that we retain. An atlas with high-quality photographs can be a fundamental resource.