Talk:Sole markings

Meaning of term 'sole marking'
Below is a quote from my talk page about this page, I thought it would be useful for this page.--Qfl247 (talk) 23:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC) I have a few quibbles with some of your edits on the Sole markings page. Firstly, I regard 'sole markings' or 'sole structures' as being the general term for all structures preserved at the base of a bed, including scours, flutes, grooves and tool marks. Secondly the picture of flutes has problems (too much shadow - the exposures were never well lit) but the flutes are distinct IMO from the grooves on the surviving picture. I am aware from previous discussions with various other geologists on Wikipedia that nothing divides us like terminology. I use the terms much as described by Spotts & Weser (1964)[1], but am well aware that others' usage may differ. Mikenorton (talk) 20:37, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

You know, I did some fishing around, and I think you have the more proper definition, though it is confusing. One text of mine I just saw states, "Sole Marks, found on the bottom surfaces of beds, are usually casts or molds of depressions that were formed in the underlying bed by currents ... another class of sole mark is the tool mark..." It doesn't get more confusing than that... I guess then, the page as it exists now should be modified/renamed for Flute Casts, and a new general page should be made for Sole Markings discussing the different types. I do agree that the picture is poor, but I have nothing better in my arsenal. By the way, I just spent today looking through my pictures, looking for examples so I could fill out the red links on the sedimentary structures page, but no luck... I am trying not to create these pages without pictures. Anyways, I do have one question, if this change happens. Is there a specific name for the other side of the flute cast, or does it even matter? Does "flute cast" cover it all? If so, it makes the rename of the current page to "flute cast" easier. -Qfl247

My first thought would be to expand the current page into an article describing the full range of such structures before trying to make separate articles like 'flute cast', which are bound to be stubs. I'm not against the idea, but think maybe waiting until there's enough content to make a decent length article would be better. Cheers, Mikenorton (talk) 21:18, 4 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Seems as this is a stub, the various examples (red links) should be expanded as sections within this article as Mikenorton says rather than creating four more brief stubs. Vsmith (talk) 00:32, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Sorry about that, hope this works!--Qfl247 (talk) 00:42, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Looks good. Vsmith (talk) 02:07, 5 January 2010 (UTC)