On the formation of couplet-style stratifications

Couplet-style stratifications refer to the sedimentary sequences that consist of alternating coarse-grain-dominated bed and fine-grain-dominated bed, with or without a sandwiched middle-sized bed. The formation mechanism is complicated due to the interplays of varying driving force (s), sediment supply & transport and topographic configurations. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of such characteristic bedforms, which emerge during the transport and deposition of non-uniform sediments. The leading formative models include water-stage variation, gravel-overpassing process, superimposition of bedload sheets and avalanching process (inverse grading). Each process might produce similar or distinct sedimentological features with respect to grading, matrix content, grain attitude, bounding faces between beds and internal longitudinal/transverse geometry. The couplet-style stratified strata might play an active role in landscape evolution.