Flame structure

A flame structure is a type of soft-sediment deformation that forms in unlithified sediments. The weight of an overlying bed forces an underlying bed to push up through the overlying bed, generally when both strata are saturated with water. The resulting pattern (in cross section) may resemble flames. In order for the flame structure to occur, the overlying bed must be of a higher density than the underlying bed, or there must be differential pressures in the upper bed.