Sculpting of submarine mud bottoms by currents and waves may be reflected in the sedimentary record by erosion surfaces and related features. Examples shown on this page are from the Chattanooga Shale (Late Devonian) of Tennessee. Submarine erosion surfaces are a little known but probably quite common feature of shallow marine shale successions. Those of the Chattanooga Shale have been described in several publications.
Schieber, J., 1994, Evidence for episodic high energy events and shallow water deposition in the Chattanooga Shale, Devonian, central Tennessee, U.S.A. Sedimentary Geology, v. 93, p. 193-208. download PDF file (left click on link and click on "Save as"...)
Outcrop of Dowelltown Member of the Chattanooga Shale. Shows several inclined truncation surfaces within black shales. Note angular truncation of beds beneath truncation surfaces. Shales deposited after an erosive event are conformable to the underlying erosion surface. Their draping over these truncation surfaces produces a kind of pseudo cross-stratification. BU = basal unconformity of the Chattanooga Shale; T1 and T2 are truncation/erosion surfaces of probably submarine origin. I consider them expressions of sequence boundaries.
Schieber, J., 1998, Sedimentary features indicating erosion, condensation, and hiatuses in the Chattanooga Shale of Central Tennessee: Relevance for sedimentary and stratigraphic evolution. In: J. Schieber, W. Zimmerle, and P. Sethi (editors), Shales and Mudstones (vol. 1): Basin Studies, Sedimentology and Paleontology, Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, p. 187-215. download PDF file (left click on link and click on "Save as"...)
Outcrop of Gassaway Member of Chattanooga Shale. Shows again several inclined truncation/erosion surfaces. Note angular truncation of beds beneath truncation surfaces. E1 and E2 mark the erosion/truncation surfaces visible in this exposure. Surface E2 has already been traced over a large distance along the eastern Highland Rim (for about 150 km). The large lateral extent strongly suggests that E2 is a bona fide sequence boundary.
Schieber, J., 1994, Reflection of deep vs shallow water deposition by small scale sedimentary features and microfabrics of the Chattanooga Shale in Tennessee. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 17, p. 773-784. Link
