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Geological Formations

Cyclic Steps

Sedimentary and Stratigraphic Formations

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Cyclic steps are rhythmic bedforms that develop when sediment laden water flowing downslope experiences a Froude super critical flow instability, producing a type of sediment wave whose individual steps each have a steep drop and that together migrate upstream over time. The phenomenon was first shown to occur on the ocean floor in 2006, after having been observed more than a decade earlier in open channel flows on land.

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