Flume Experiments on the Durability of Mud Clasts

Abstract

ABSTRACT 3 cm square by 0.5 cm thick mud clasts of three different sediment samples and varying water contents were eroded in a sand-bottomed flume at velocities of 25 cm/sec and 60 cm/sec. It was found that clay-rich and initially plastic clasts resist erosion the best, but that all clasts abrade and round quickly if velocities are high enough to transport them. The results suggest that (1) desiccation cracks are insignificant sources of natural mud clasts, and (2) most mud intraclasts in sedimentary deposits probably underwent little transportation from their site of origin.