Sediment composed of sand to granul

Sediment composed of sand to granule-sized, loose carbonate material occurs in shallow, high energy areas.

These carbonate shoals may be made up of ooids, mixtures of broken shelly debris or may be accumulations of benthic foraminifers.

Reworking by wave and tidal currents results in deposits made up of well-sorted, well-rounded material: when lithified these form beds of grainstone, or sometimes packstone.

Sedimentary structures may be similar to those found in sand bodies on clastic shelves, including planar and trough cross-bedding generated by the migration of subaqueous dune bedforms.

However, the degree of reworking is often limited by early carbonate cementation. Extensive wave action tends to build up shoals that form banks parallel to the coastline, whereas tidal currents in coastal regions result in bodies