1075 .- JOURNALOF SEDIMENTARYPETROLOGY,. V OL . 3 9, N o. 3 ~ ,1 07 4-1 1O 6 FIGS. 1-21, SEPTEMBER,1969 E VKI ' ,...' JGRAIN S IZ E DISTRIBUTIONS tributed to provenance and to the hydraulics of s ream transport, but little environmental s}g- nificance WaS placed on the observations. No general hypothesis' w as developed to explain hy the same modes should appear both in flu- vial and mariJ1esediments. ' One of the, most significant of the early pa- pers on' texture was by Doeglas (1946). He c on clu de d th at g ra in s iz e d is tr ib Ut io ns f ol lo w an a ri th me ti c p ro ba bi li ty law. Two m aj Dr c on tr ib u- fions by Doeg:laswere that (l) grain siz~ dis- tributions are' mixtures of two or more compo- nent-,distributi~ris 'or popu a 16ns,.and that -(2) th ese d istrib utio ns w ere p ro du ce <l b y va ry in g t ra n sp o rt ' c o nd i ti o ns . From his analyses he de- veloped an ,em pirical classification of curve shapes and related typeSD f curves to specific s ed im en t~ ry e nv ir on me nts .. T he re were s ev er al problems in this type of analysIs: (1) a sedi- m enta tio n b alan ce w as u sed for textural an aly - s is w h ic h d id r io t p ro vi de s uf fi ci en tl y a cc ur at e or rep ro du cib le te su lts; (2) cumulative d istrib u- tions w ere plotted on arithm etic probability paper, which tended to ininimize the fine g rain ed tail a nd stro ng ly ac ce n u ate d th e c ou rs e fraction; (3) the mixing and truncation. of co mp on en t' d istrib utio ns w as n ot o bse rve d; (4) cu rv e sh ap es w ere not related to specific deposi~ tional. processes. - R eg ar dle ss o f th es e: li mi ta tio ns D oe gl as ' c on - ' tr ib ut io n w as n or su ff ic ie nt 1y re co gn iz ed p y s ed i- m ento lo gists, and th is ra th er fruitful ap pro ac h to the r ec og nit io n o f s .e dim en ta ry e nv ir on me nts w as n ot w id ely ad op ted in th is c oq ntry . O ne o f, th e m os t sig nifica nt p ap ers. relatin g sedimentation. dynamics to texture w as pub- lishedby Inm a n (1949). He recognized th~t th ere a re th ree fu nd am en ta m od es o f tran Sp ort, s ur fa ce c re ep , s al ta tio n, a nd s us pe ns io n ( In ma n, 1 94 9, p . 55 ), and Qeutilized the existing k now l- ed ge co nce rn in g flu id m ech anic s to an aly ze the m oo es of tra nsp ort o f .se dim en tary 'pa rtic le s. M uch of the w ork in this area had been devel- o ped b y G ilb ert (1 91 4), S hie lds (1 93 6) ,R ub ey (1 93 8), B ag no 1d (19 41 ), and Kalinske (1 94 3). M any other w orkets aided in the development of these c onc ep ts, but the above writers re la ted f lu id m ec ha ni cs d ir ec tly tothe p ro ble ms o be di - m e nt t ra ns po rL an d d ep os it io n. .. P re li mi na ry ' e on cl us io ns c on ce rn in g' s or tin g, s kew ne ss, and mean size were derived b y In man (1949). He did not; however, relate these pa- ramet rs to the total ,grain siz~ distributions or to th e p re se nce of ind iv id ua l po pu latio ns, as had b een s ug ge sted earlier by D oe gl as . I nm an 's w ork fo rm ed tlie b as is fo r th e e mp ha sis durin g th e 1 950 's a nd 1 96 0's o n s ta tistic al m ea su res of th e g ra in size distribution and on the continued I I .G LE NN S . V IS HE Rj UniversityofTulsa~Tulsa,Oklahoma ~ Ex'~ , 'OX,, ~ i,d, oJ Ie ,,=~'~;::;;'::rt' ..., ,,~~d' ' '' ., J. '' ; ., . ,, ,, ,, ;. j p retat jon of sa qd texture. A na lysI s 1S b as ed on r e c~ g n lz m g ,SUD~pOpUlat 1 0 n s w l ~ l Ii n i ii ~ iv i uu a l log-normal g ra in s iz e d is tri bu ti? 1 s. E ac h lo g-~ .rm al s ub -p op ula tI On ' lay ,be r el at e~ to a d lf fe r. en t _ mo de o is ei ii me nt trans port a nd depo sitIO n, thu s providing a m easu re o.f th eir Im porta .nce In th e. g enes Is ot a §and unit. T he three modes of transport reflected are: (1) ~ t,ls pe '; ls lO n;. (? ) s alta ~l Ol1 ;; a nf ( 3) .s urfa ce c re ep or r on in g. E ac h o f --th es e is d ev elo pe d ,a s a s ep ara te s ub -p op ula tIO n w lth m a , g ra m. S iz e d s tq bu tl(> n, T he n um be r, a mo un t, sizecrange, m ix ing, and sorting of the se. p opula tion s v;;ry sys tem atically m r~la tlO n to . prov enanc e, se di--, m entary pro cess ,and'sed im entary dyna mlcs . T he analysIs of these parameters IS the b asIs for d eten ninin g t he p ro ce ss -r es po ns e c ha ra ct er is ti cs ~ f i nd iv id ua l s an ~ u ni ts ., ,- , '.. -.' . A ,numoer of processes are Uluquely reflected ,m log-probablhty, curves of graIn size dlstnbutions of sands and sandstones. T hese include: (I) current; (2) ~lV ash and backw ash; (J) wave; (4) t id a l c ha n ne l; (5) fallout from suspension; (6) turbidity current; and (7) aeolian {june. The combination of two or m ore o f th es e p ro ce ss es a ls o p ro du ce c ha ra ct eris tic lo g-p ro ba bility c urv e s ha pe s. ' ' ncient ~ands' show some differences from their m odern analogues, but these are usually minor. Log- ' p ro ba bil itY p lo ts .o f a nc ie nt s an ds a re d ire ct ly c om pa ra ble to th Qs e fro m m Qd er n s an ds . T he p ri nc ip al lim ita - tion of this study is in comparing sa nds fon ned und er com parab le cond ition s a nd o btaining a n ind epen del} t d ete rm in atio n 0 f th e p ro ce ss es o f f orm atio n o f a nc ie nt s an ds . -. G RA IN S IZE D IS TR IB UT IO NS A ND D EP OS IT IO NA LP RO CE SS ES I INTRODUCTWN S ta te me nt of Problem F or m any y ea rs se dim en tary p etro gra ph ers h av e atte mp ted to use, grain siz e to , d eterm in e sedim entary environments. A survey of the ex- te nsiv e literature on this su bj ec t illus tra te s th e steady progress that has been m ade tow ard this g oa l. Many e .. '< :c e\ le nt c on tr ib uti on s h av e b ee n made during the past tW enty to thirty years, each providing new approaches and insights into the nature ad significance of grain size d{ strib utio ns., O nly w ith in the past' few y ea rs, h ow ev er , h av e w or ke rs a tt em pte d t o re la te g ra in - s ii e d is tr ib ut io ns to the d ep Qs iti on al p ro ce ,s se s re s~ on sib Je for th eir fo rm atio n. T his a pp ro ach ap pe ars to be paTtic;ulai'ly frttitful, and it pro- vides the basis for the next step towards a truly' g en eti c c la ss if ic ati on , of s ed im en ta ry t ex tu re s. One of the major problems in the analysis of g rain sizedistribi.ttions is that th e s am ese di- . m entary processes occur within a number of en- viromnents and the consequent ~ textural re- sponse is similar.' Now that there are many- ph ysic al c rite ria av ailab le.to id en tify s pe cific d ep os it io na l e nv ir on me nt s, the t ex tu ra l s tu di es - do not need to stand al ne, but can provide a se para te lin e o f ev id en ce to aid in interpreting clastic deposits of unknown o r ig i n. , , In su mm ary, the problem la ys in the relation' 1 'M anusc ript re ceh'ed O ctobe r 10, 1,9 68; reyise d M ay 2, 1969. o f s ed im en ta ry p rq ce ss es t o t ex tu ra L r es po ns es . If th ese c an b e related to~ peC ific d ep ositio n~ l environments, then a powerful. tool' will be av aila ble fo r inte rp re tin g the g en esis of ancient clastic deposits. - P ie 'l li on s W o rk The developm ent' of a genetic approach to c la stic te xtu res has been a long and difficult one. Many w or ke rs h av e p ro vi de d 'i nf or ma ti on il li d fu rthe red the de velo pm en t to wa rds th isg oa l c on se qu en tl y, it is nearly i mp os si bl e t Q t ra ce the o rig in ,o £.~ any of the ideas. S pec ific o nce pts s l, lc h a s t he lo g-. no rm ali ty o f g ra in s iz e d is tr ib u. t io n a re v er y o ld , w it he ..' <: te ns iv e t re atm en t- oi t his co nc ep tj }y Kr um be in ( 19 37 , 1 93 8) .S pe cn - latio n~ c onc ern in g th e rea so ns for this w ere eli,- c ~ts se db y K ru mb ei n( 19 38 ), o ut n o s at is fa cto ry e xp lan atio ns w ere g iye n. F rom t.hat time to the . p re se nt v ar io us a pp r-o ac he s t og ra nu lo mc tr ic a na ly si s h av e b ee n p ro po se d. T ho se si gn if ic ~n r to the understanding of processes are sum ma. i rized, so that the de velop men t of t he e ss en ti al i i de as r el at in g s ed im en ta ry p ro ce ss es to t ex tu ra l' responSes ,can be traced. D in ;e lo pl 1lc nt s D ur in g 1 94 0's . \V ork eyJ>ettijohn- (1949) indicated that a . number o f m od es . e xi st ed in g ra in s iz ed is tr ib u- tions, and that deficiencies occurred in the coarse s an d~ fin e g ra nule size and in the coarse silt size. These m od es an d de fic ien cie s wee at- > m athem atical study of sediment transport and fluid mechanics. De'llelop;ments Dnring 1950's, Studies by Eiristein (1950), Einstein and Barbarasso (1952), and Einstein and Chien (1 95 .3 ) in vo lv ed th e re la tio n o f s ed im ent trans- port to stream characteristics. T hese papers, however, dealt with predicting the volum e of s ed im en t tr an sp ort r ath er t ha n' w it h d ep os iti on . Papers by Bagnold (1954, 1956) dealt specifi- c all y w it h t 1etransport m ec ha ni cs o f s ed im en ts , a nd th e e p ap ers p ro vid ed th e th eore tic al ba sis for tneinterpretation of the textures of sedi- ments. Papers by. Chien (19 6), Sundborg (1 95 6), V an on ian d B ro oks (1 957 ), a nd B roo ks ( 19 58 ) d is cu ss ed - in detail the relations of strea m m ech an ic s an d se dim en t tF an sp ~rt. T his w ork in flu id m ech an ic s w as n ot ap plie d sp ec ifi- cally to textures of the deposited sedim ents. S hap es o f g ra in s iz e d istribu tio n cu rV eS ot sed i- ments from' both m odern and ancient environ- m ents w ere described by Sindowski (1958). He re fere nce d' th e pio nee r stl,ld ies 'b y p oe gla s (1946 }c,. but deviated from that work in that he used log-probability plots of the grain-size in- ,. form atlon.Sindow ski (1958, p. 239-240) em- pirically cl~ ssifie d s iz e d istrib utio n cu rv es ac- c or di ng to S ev en d if fe re nt d ep os it io na : t yp es : (1) relict, (2) strand, (3) tidal flat, (4) shelf, (5) tidal inlet, (6) minor tidal channel, and (7) fluvial. M an y e xam ple 'S a re p ro vid ed in his pa per fro m m or~ th an 5000 a na ly ze d s am P le s. Sinclowski's w ork,' w hich gener lly has been o verlo ok ed in th is cO l,ln try , p ro vide s th e first . c~arefulstudy of the reiationoi . se di me nt t ex tu re s from k nD wn d ep ositio na l en viron men tS to the sh ap es of grain size CUFves.It allows the envi- ro nm en talld en tiflc atio n of many ty pes of sands from t eir textures. Sind wski, however, did no t try to relate the shapes 'of the grain size cu rv es'to tra nsp ort a nd d ep osition al p ro ce sse s that form ed them. This step could nQ t' b e m ade w ithO lllclose study of the fluid mechanics' of oped by Bag old (1956) and other workers. T he vi'st step in the correlation of curve sh ap es w ith proces.ses w as publisnedbyA. John }foss (1902, 1963). ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / D e '1 /e lo pm e nt s D u 'r in g the 1960's The two papers by M oss represent, a major. c on tr ib ut io n t ow a rd a n u nd er st ar id in g of the re- l at io n/ of g ra in s iz e d is tr Ib ut io ns t o d ep os it io na l p ro ce ss es . : Mo ss us ed s ha pe a nd s iz e of g ra in s to distinguish subpopulations produced by, the three means o f s ed im ent tra nsp ort de sc rib ed by Inman (1949) and Bagnold (1956): (1) sur
