Bedforms and Cross-Bedding in Animation

I spent two years working as a Geologist at the USGS in Santa Cruz, CA.  Bedforms and Cross-Bedding in Animation by David M. Rubin and myself is a college-level textbook on sediment transport processes.  It’s available for purchase here or you can play with the online, interactive exploration tool via the USGS Bedform Sedimentology Site.

If you are so inclined, Rubin and Carter, 2005 includes our downloadable MATLAB code to create the bedform models.

Example files:

Figure 34-35 morph.
Structure produced by sinuous, out-of-phase bedforms; eolian deposits in the Navajo Sandstone (Upper Triassic? and Jurassic) near Snow Canyon, Utah. Dark spots on the outcrop are bushes approximately 1 m high. This structure is a close approximation of the computer-generated structures formed by bedforms with out-of- phase plan-form geometries.

Animation to Rock morph from Carissa Carter on Vimeo.

Mars morph.
This animation shows the fluvial formation of bedforms found on Last Chance Outcrop, Opportunity Ledge, Eagle Crater, Mars.

Ripples to Rocks on Mars from Carissa Carter on Vimeo.

Figure 46a.
Structures formed by bedforms with superimposed bedforms migrating 45 degrees counterclockwise of the migration direction of the main bedforms.

Figure 46a from Bedforms and Cross-Bedding in Animation by Rubin and Carter from Carissa Carter on Vimeo.

Bedforms and Cross-Bedding in Animation by
David M. Rubin and Carissa L. Carter
U.S. Geological Survey
Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Sidenote: an interesting post, considering my arc from geologist to designer.

Fig. 70. photo by David M. Rubin