The Dunham classification system for carbonate sedimentary rocks was originally devised by Robert J. Dunham (1924–1994) in 1962, and subsequently modified by Embry and Klovan in 1971 to include coarse-grained limestones and sediments that had been organically bound at the time of deposition. The modified Dunham Classification has subsequently become the most widely employed system for the classification of carbonate sedimentary rocks, with 89% of workers currently adopting this system over the alternative Folk classification scheme.

Robert J. Dunham published his classification system for limestone in 1962. The original Dunham classification system was developed in order to provide convenient depositional-texture based class names that focus attention on the textural properties that are most significant for interpreting the depositional environment of the rocks.

The three criteria used to define the original Dunham classes were:

On the basis of these criteria, the following four classes were defined:

Recognising that these classes did not encompass all carbonate lithologies, Dunham defined two additional classes within his scheme:

Dunham specifically stated that, where appropriate, these six textural class names are intended to be combined with modifiers describing grains and mineralogy. The original classification can be summarized as follows:

Following the publication of the original Dunham Classification System a number of modifications were proposed. The most widely adopted of these has been that of Embry and Klovan (1971) who recognized that the Dunham classification scheme lacked detail when it came to the description of organically-bound and coarse-grained limestones.

Embry and Klovan proposed the subdivision of the Dunham 'boundstone' category on the basis of the means by which the sediment was organically-bound, thus yielding three new classes within the Dunham boundstone class: