Mud Puzzle
Anytime a layer of clay silt is deposited by a rainstorm in a depression in the ground, when the clay dries it shrinks and forms the puzzle pattern mud cracks. Like everything else in the world, mud cracks are studied by geologists. If the mud cracks are subsequently covered by another layer of silt and preserved and then through geological changes hardened into rock, they give us a record of the long ago drying event. They use mud cracks to determine the orientation of the original sedimentary beds that formed the cracks. The edges of the mud cracks curl upward and point out which direction was up in the original bed.
Mud Puzzle
Anytime a layer of clay silt is deposited by a rainstorm in a depression in the ground, when the clay dries it shrinks and forms the puzzle pattern mud cracks. Like everything else in the world, mud cracks are studied by geologists. If the mud cracks are subsequently covered by another layer of silt and preserved and then through geological changes hardened into rock, they give us a record of the long ago drying event. They use mud cracks to determine the orientation of the original sedimentary beds that formed the cracks. The edges of the mud cracks curl upward and point out which direction was up in the original bed.