Sedimentary Rock

http://soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/cgg_main.html
TYPES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

1. Clastic sedimentary rock

2. Chemical sedimentary rock

3. Biochemical sedimentary rock

4. Organic sedimentary rock

 Clastic sedimentary rock
They are products of weathering/erosion,
transportation, deposition, diagenesis, and
lithification.

Weathering: breaking down or

dissolving of rocks and minerals
on Earths surface.

Erosion: removal of soil by water,

wind, gravity, waves.

Diagenesis: physical and

chemical changes in sediments
caused by increasing T and
P as they get buried in the
Earth's crust.

Lithification: which sediments compact

under pressure,
expel connate fluids, and gradually become
solid rock.
Its formation involves five processes—

1. Weathering: transforming solid rock into smaller fragments

or dissolved ions by physical and chemical weathering.

2. Erosion: his can take place by gravity (mass movement events like
landslides or rock falls), by running water. by wind, or by moving ice.
Erosion overlaps with transportation.

3. Transportation: Sediment can be transported by sliding down slopes,

being picked up by the wind, or by being carried by running water
in streams, rivers, or ocean currents.

4. Deposition: sediment is deposited when the energy of the transporting

medium becomes too low to continue the transport process.

5. Diagenesis and lithification: which sediments compact under pressure,

expel connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock.
Oceans rise and fall, lakes come and go, streams run and disappear,
deserts become forests and forest become swamps…all these changes
will be recorded in sedimentary rocks.
Clastic sedimentary rocks are classified in terms of grain size and shape.

Name of Size Range Loose Consolidated Rock

Particle Sediment

Boulder >256 mm Gravel

Cobble 64 - 256 mm Gravel Conglomerate or Breccia (depends on rounding)

Pebble 2 - 64 mm Gravel

Sand 1/16 - 2mm Sand Sandstone

Silt 1/256 - 1/16 Silt Siltstone

mm

Clay <1/256 mm Clay Claystone, mudstone, and shale

 the coarser sediment gets left behind by the transportation process.

 Thus, coarse sediment is usually found closer to its source and

 Fine grained sediment is found farther from the source.

 Textures of Clastic Sedimentary Rocks
When sediment is transported and deposited, it leaves clues to the
mode of transport and deposition.

Sorting - The degree of uniformity of grain size.

Particles become sorted on the basis of density, because of
the energy of the transporting medium.

If the particles have the same density, then the heavier

particles will also be larger, so the sorting will take place
on the basis of size. We can classify this size sorting on a
relative basis - well sorted to poorly sorted. Sorting gives
clues to the energy conditions of the transporting medium
from which the sediment was deposited.
 Beach deposits and wind blown deposits
generally show good sorting because the
energy of the transporting medium
is usually constant.

Stream deposits are usually poorly sorted

because the energy (velocity) in a stream
varies with position in the stream and time
Rounding: random abrasion results in rounding off of the
sharp corners and edges of grains.

Thus, rounding of grains gives us clues to the amount

of time a sediment has been in the transportation cycle.

The beach sand is compositionally mature because it is made up only of quartz,

which is very stable at the earth's surface.
 Biochemical and Organic Sedimentary Rocks
When the organism dies, the remains
can accumulate to become
sediment or sedimentary rock.

Limestone - calcite (CaCO3) is

precipitated by organisms
usually to form a shell or other
skeletal structure.

Chert - Tiny silica secreting

planktonic organism like Radiolaria
and Diatoms can accumulate on the
sea floor and recrystallize during
lithification to form chert.

Coal: remains of fossil plant matter.

 Chemical Sedimentary Rocks
 Dissolved ions released into water by the weathering process
are carried in streams or groundwater.

 These dissolved ions end in up in the ocean.

 The ions recombine by chemical precipitation to form minerals

that can accumulate to become chemical sedimentary rocks.
 Sedimentary Structures

Rhythmic layering

•e of the lake is frozen.

Cross bedding
Ripple marks

Mud cracks
Sedimentary rock contains sediment grains, cement holding them together,
and empty space called “pores”
To understand Earth history, a geologist seeks to interpret the
“Environment of Deposition” of a sedimentary rock…this reveals
something about changes occurring on Earth’s surface

Eolian Environment – grains of uniform size “well sorted”

Coastal Environment – grains coarser and of mixed size

Stream Environment – grains much coarser and “poorly sorted”

Glacial Environment – grains very coarse
with no sorting, but
usually rounded

Landslide Environment – grains very coarse

with no sorting, with no
rounding

Marsh/Mudflat Environment – grains very fine

 Evaporite environment – chemical sediments

Reef environment – biological sediments

Deep sea environment?? – Plankton sediment and

clays from land
 Sedimentary Structures….

Cross-beds – former dunes

Sedimentary rocks tend to form

layers or strata…each layer records
a depositional event
Ripple
marks

modern

Mud
cracks

ancient
Sediment becomes sedimentary rock…the texture and composition
of the sediment determine the type of sedimentary rock
 Two types of sedimentary rock –

Clastic Sedimentary Rock – Biochemical Sedimentary Rock –

made of pieces of broken crust made of precipitated minerals

Conglomerate Rock Salt

Clastic Sedimentary Rock Biochemical Sedimentary Rock

Conglomerate/Breccia –
gravel texture
Limestone –
CaCO3 composition

Sandstone –
sand texture Chert –
SiO2 composition

Shale –
silt/clay texture
Coal –
Carbon composition
 Pressure forms coal
How
does
coal
form?