Consolidation of offshore deposits. We cannot doubt that all these loose sediments of the sea floor are being slowly consolidated to solid rock. They are soaked with water which carries in solution lime carbonate and other cementing substances. These cements are deposited between the fragments of shells and corals, the grains of sand and the particles of mud, binding them together into firm rock. Where sediments have accumulated to great thickness the lower portions tend also to consolidate under the weight of the overlying beds. Except in the case of limestones, recent sea deposits uplifted to form land are seldom so well cemented as are the older strata, which have long been acted upon by underground waters deep below the surface within the zone of cementation, and have been exposed to view by great erosion.
Fig. 150. Ripple Marks on Layers of Ancient Sandstone, Wisconsin
Ripple marks, sun cracks, etc. The pulse of waves and tidal currents agitates the loose material of offshore deposits, throwing it into fine parallel ridges called ripple marks. One may see this beautiful ribbing imprinted on beach sands uncovered by the outgoing tide, and it is also produced where the water is of considerable depth. While the tide is out the surface of shore deposits may be marked by the footprints of birds and other animals, or by the raindrops of a passing shower ([Fig. 153]). The mud of flats, thus exposed to the sun and dried, cracks in a characteristic way (Figs. [151] and [152]). Such markings may be covered over with a thin layer of sediment at the next flood tide and sealed away as a lasting record of the manner and place in which the strata were laid. In [Figure 150] we have an illustration of a very ancient ripple-marked sand consolidated to hard stone, uplifted and set on edge by movements of the earth’s crust, and exposed to open air after long erosion.
Fig. 151. Sun Cracks