Armored Mud Balls ' Their Origin , Properties , and in Sedimentation

.\BSTR.\ CT A brief summary of the limited literature devoted to mud balls centers around nomenclature, the ideas regarding the origin of mud balls, and the factors limiting their size. A report is made of a combined field and laboratory study in which an investigaticn of the size which mud balls may attain leads to conclusions that differ from those in the literature; findings are presented which deal with the relationship between sphericity and the distance mud balls t ravel, the influence of weight, sphericity, and specific surface upon armor quantity, and the importance of mud balls as a factor in the transportation of debris produced by erosion.