This chapter introduced key tools and techniques that provide data about texture, bedding, composition, and grain origin. Such data enable characterization of mudstone strata at lamina to sequence-set scales. The application of such tools and techniques to decipher depositional conditions and construct sequence-stratigraphic frameworks was specifically addressed. Outlines of our approach to making detailed and systematic observations of key attributes of mudstones in outcrops, cores, and thin sections as well as an introduction to key sequence-stratigraphic concepts that we find useful for studying mudstones were included for quick reference. Our approach is elaborated and illustrated in all of the following chapters. | This chapter introduced key tools and techniques that provide data about texture, bedding, composition, and grain origin. Such data enable characterization of mudstone strata at lamina to sequence-set scales. The application of such tools and techniques to decipher depositional conditions and construct sequence-stratigraphic frameworks was specifically addressed. Outlines of our approach to making detailed and systematic observations of key attributes of mudstones in outcrops, cores, and thin sections as well as an introduction to key sequence-stratigraphic concepts that we find useful for studying mudstones were included for quick reference. Our approach is elaborated and illustrated in all of the following chapters. |