Deposition of climbing-ripple beds: a flume simulation

Thirteen runs were made in a small recirculating flume to simulate the deposition of the climbing-ripple sequences commonly present in fine-grained facies of fluvial and deltaic deposits. These sequences consist of intergradational climbing-ripple cross laminae and draped laminae. The experiments were based on the assumption that stratification type depends mainly on near-bottom flow structure and uniform sediment fallout from an overloaded flow. Various combinations of curves of velocity versus time and of sediment feed versus time in runs lasting from 45 to 840 min were used in an exploratory program; conditions for each run were selected on the basis of experience in previous runs. The runs verified that Type A (erosional-stoss) climbing ripples are produced by aggradation rates that are small relative to ripple migration rate, and Type B (depositional-stoss) climbing ripples are produced by aggradation rates that are large relative to ripple migration rate. Draped lamination results from continued fallout of sediment from suspension after ripple migration ceases or almost ceases. Comparison of geometric details of the ripple stratification produced in the flume runs with that in natural sequences, supplemented by considerations on maximum and minimum migration rates of ripples, suggests times of no more than a few tens of hours for the deposition of the climbing-ripple portions of sequences 10-20 cm thick. Runs in which deposition of a 20 cm sequence took more than 10 h produced such atypical features of ripple geometry as sharp crests, planar lee-side laminae, and angular toeset-foreset contacts.