This paper discusses the growth stages, spatial structures, quantitative fitting relationships among various parameters, growth patterns and influencing factors of mud cracks by field survey, core observation and SEM analysis. The study shows that:(1) Mud crack growth can go through three stages, i.e. the syndiagenetic stage, the burial diagenetic stage (including early diagenetic stage, middle-late diagenetic stage) and the epidiagenetic stage. (2) Quantitative fitting relationships among various parameters allow a great significance to describe the spatial structure, the regional distribution and the growth environment of mud cracks. (3) Mud crack growth has three models, such as the unilateral growth model including the linear growth pattern, the curvilinear growth pattern and the bifurcation growth pattern, the multilateral growth model including the intersectional growth pattern, the join growth pattern and the dispersed growth pattern, and the mixed growth model including the combination of any patterns listed above. (4) Modern mud crack growth usually undergoes four stages. Sand beds in sand-mud rhythmic strata can play a lubricative role on crack growth and provide enough sandy deposits for filling cracks. (5) Mud crack growth usually produces bifurcation and bifurcation angles which are mostly 120° or 90° that are related to sediment heterogeneity and released energy. (6) Factors affecting mud crack growth cover many aspects: clay content and salinity can control the number of mud cracks in different areas;terrain can control mud crack morphology;and different sedimentary cycles can control the growth patterns and filling models of mud cracks.