Abstract
The Curtis Formation in central Utah contains a rich suite of sedimentary structures that provides persuasive evidence for a tidal mode of origin. The most diagnostic of these structures are sigmoidal tidal bundles: sandstone packages deposited during one dominant tidal episode that comprise a set of large-scale cross-lamination enclosed by two relatively gently dipping, sigmoid-shaped pause planes. Bundles are especially recognizable as tidally generated features because they exhibit an internal progression, from gentle, drape-like sigmoids to avalanche-type cross-bed foresets back to sigmoidal drapes. This progression reflects the sequential change in tidal flow velocities from slack water to maximum flow back to slack water. In addition, cyclic variability in the thickness and in internal structures among tidal bundles is clearly related to periodicity in the lunar month. These features of the Curtis Formation are remarkably similar to sedimentary structures observed in Holocene tidal sediments along the Dutch North Sea coast.
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