The environmental significance of soft-sediment deformation structures: key signatures for sedimentary and tectonic processes

Soft-sediment deformation occurs in unconsolidated sediment during or shortly after deposition, and before significant diagenesis: soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs) are strongly influenced by the sedimentary environment since they usually occur at surface or close to it, where sedimentary processes physically interact with unconsolidated sediments (currents, waves, mass movements, etc.). For these reasons, physical deformation of soft-sediments is a refe-ence chapter in many books on sedimentology.