Processes of transport and sedimentary structures - Flows, Sediment and Bedforms - Bar forms

7 important questions on Processes of transport and sedimentary structures - Flows, Sediment and Bedforms - Bar forms

What type of bedforms are bars? Mention within your answer something about the dimensions of height and widt of bar forms.


Bars are bedforms occurring within channels that are
of a larger scale than dunes: they have width and
height dimensions of the same order of magnitude as
the channel within which they are formed

Where do bars form?

Within channels

From which grain size are bars usually formed?


Bars can be made up of sandy sediment, gravelly
material or mixtures of coarse grain sizes.
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In a sandy channel the surfaces of bar forms are covered with subaqueous dune bedforms, which migrate over the bar surface and result in the formation of units of cross-bedded sands. What type of bar form deposit is then usually formed, name several morphological characteristics.


Bar form deposit is therefore typically a cross-bedded sandstone as a lens-shaped body.

What morphological feature in relation to stratification can occur at the downstream edge of a bar, when it is steep?


The downstream edge of a bar can be steep and
develop its own slip-face, resulting in large-scale
cross-stratification in both sandstones and conglomerates.

Classification of bars occurs due to their position within a channel and their shape. Name the types of bars that occur at the margins, centre and on bends in a channel.


side and alternate bars at the margins
mid-channel bars in the centre
point bars on bends

Based on what are bars classified?

Their shape and position within a channel

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