INTRODUCTION
Unlike siliciclastic rocks, which are composed of fragments of pre-existing rocks and minerals, biogenic
(biochemical and organic), chemical and other non-siliciclastic rocks form as a result of both organic
and non-organic activity and are often unrelated to the process of weathering. This lab will deal
exclusively with carbonate rocks, while you will be introduced to the rest in Lab 4.
Carbonates, including limestone and dolostone, are the most abundant non-terrigenous sedimentary
rocks, forming both chemically and biochemically. In both processes, dissolved ions are carried from
source to depositional basin in solution where they are either precipitated directly or are extracted by
organisms to manufacture shells and skeletons that are later incorporated into sedimentary rocks. The
distinction between purely chemical and biochemical is sometimes vague in that organic activity can
modify the geochemical environment enough to cause chemical precipitation. The distinction between
clastic sedimentary rocks and crystalline chemical/biochemical rocks can also be ambiguous in that
many limestones contain composite carbonate grains that have experienced a history of transport and
deposition as clasts. Please refer to pp. 233-237 in P & S, for a background on carbonate mineral
chemistry/geochemistry.
R.L. Folk (1959, 1962) devised one classification scheme, with emphasis on the matrix/cement content
of limestone. It identifies two distinct carbonate components: allochemical and orthochemical.
Allochemical components (allochems) are any grains of calcium carbonate that, after formation, are
transported and deposited as clasts. They are analogous to rock and mineral fragments in the framework
fraction of terrigenous sandstone and often show clastic textures. Allochems are subdivided into
skeletal (bioclasts) and non-skeletal grains. While many types of bioclasts exist, non-skeletal grains are
grouped into four types: coated grains (ooids, pisoids, oncoids) and their aggregates (lumps,
grapestones), peloids and limestone clasts (limeclasts, lithoclasts, intraclasts), which are eroded,
transported, redeposited and confined within limestone strata.
Unlike allochems, orthochemical components (orthochems) are not transported and deposited as clasts,
but rather are directly precipitated by chemical action in the depositional basin, as a result of
environmental changes. There are two kinds of orthochems: microcrystalline (<4 m) calcium
carbonate mud or micrite and microcrystalline sparry cement or spar. Micrite occurs as matrix in
allochem-bearing limestone (analogous to the matrix in wacke sandstones) or by itself as limey
mudrock, and is most commonly formed by the physical disintegration of calcareous green algal masses.
It consists of silt and clay-sized fragments of aragonite or calcite. Under the microscope, it is typically
translucent with a dull brown cast. Spar forms as simple, primary, pore-filling cement (analogous to
cement in arenite sandstone) or through the recrystallization of micrite. In thin section, crystals are
coarser than micrite and clear.
The figures below show Folks scheme and its four principal limestone families: 1) sparry
allochemical limestones, 2) microcrystalline allochemical limestones, 3) micrites and 4) biolithite. The
first two are subdivided on the basis of the predominant kind(s) of allochems and given composite
names. Micritic limestone contains <10% allochems, while dismicrite is recrystallized, bioturbated
micrite. Biolithites are limestones that were crystallized directly as a result of the activity of reefbuilding corals and algae. Examples include reef limestone and stromatolites.
Folks (1959, 1962) textural maturity classification scheme for carbonate sediments
BIOGENIC
FAMILY
SILICICLASTIC
EQUIVALENT
Sparry allochemical
limestone
Arenite
Microcrystalline
allochemical limestone
Wacke
Micrite
Mudrock
Biolithites
R.J. Dumham (1962) proposed another classification scheme, with emphasis on the depositional texture
of limestone. This scheme focuses on the packing of framework grains, rather than the type of
matrix/cement. The rock names reflect, at one extreme, <10% grains (mudstone) and, at the other
extreme, the dominance of closely bound, original components (boundstone). In the middle is
packstone, which is grain-supported limestone with micrite matrix and sparry calcite cement.
Classification of carbonate rocks after Dunham (1962) with Folks classes shown below.
Many ancient carbonate rocks consist, in whole or part, of the mineral dolomite [CaMg(CO)3]. As
dolomite is very similar to other carbonate minerals (rhombohedral, soft, etc.), it is not always easy to
identify in either hand specimen or thin section. Generally, its reactions to acid and staining (Alizarin
Red S) are the best indicators.
While technically a rock composed of this mineral should be called a dolostone, many petrologists
persist in using the mineral name. Dolomitization is the process by which calcium carbonate rock alters
to dolostone. This process generally obscures original rock textures and is another reason classification
may be difficult. Virtually all dolostones are composed of secondary (after calcite and aragonite)
dolomite. This widely held view is based on the fact that relic biogenic textures are still evident in many
dolostones and that primary dolomite has yet to be produced in the laboratory under typical marine
conditions.
LAB 3 ASSIGNMENT
1. Briefly compare and contrast Folks vs. Dunhams carbonate classification schemes. In what case(s)
are each used? (2 marks)
2. Describe the process of dolomitization and briefly touch on the debate surrounding the origin of
dolostone. (3 marks)
to exist, no more than ten are common. These include selected carbonates (calcite,
aragonite, magnesite, dolomite), sulphates (gypsum, anhydrite), halides (halite, sylvite,
carnallite) and a few others. Crystallization, beginning with the calcium, gypsum and
anhydrite, typically begins only after seawater has been reduced to approximately 20% of
its original volume. When the volume is further reduced to 10%, halite and sylvite begin
to precipitate. Finally, the highly soluble borates and nitrates precipitate out of the last
remaining liquid. There are three categories of evaporites: 1) nonmarine, 2) shallow
marine, and 3) deep marine.
Nonmarine or lacustrine evaporites accumulate in closed lakes (such as the Great Salt
Lake of Utah and Californias Mono Lake) with interior drainage and no outlets. Bands
of evaporite minerals tend to form a bulls eye pattern, with halite near the centre and
carbonates and sulphates around the rim. Shallow marine evaporites include supra- and
intertidal (coastal sabkha) deposits, like those found today around the Persian Gulf, and
ancient, truly shallow marine evaporites formed in what were marine shelf areas of less
than five metre depth. Typical sabkha evaporites consist of anhydrite (as irregularly
shaped lumps or nodules), gypsum and dolomite interbedded with carbonate mud or
shale, while the ancient shallow marine shelf and basin deposits comprise thick
sequences of evaporite minerals (chiefly halite and gypsum), often with great lateral
extent. Ancient evaporite deposits that lack delicate, regionally extensive laminations are
interpreted as deep-water deposits, formed from transported size-graded clasts of gypsum
and anhydrite and broken and contorted masses of slumped evaporite.
MECHANISM
Directly produced by
processes associated with
the extrusion and cooling
of igneous magmas
SUBCATEGORIES
Pyroclastic: composed of tephra fragments
of rock, mineral and glass generated by
volcanic explosions.
Autoclastic: produced by the uneven cooling
and brecciation of hot lavas in contact with
the atmosphere
Hyaloclastic: Produced by the uneven cooling
and brecciation of hot lavas in contact with
water
Cataclastic
Collapse
Collapse breccia
Breccia
Meteoric or
Impact or
Fallback
Breccia
CLASS SIZE
RANGE
SILICICLASTIC
EQUIVALENT
Blocks (angular)
PYROCLASTIC
ROCK
Volcanic breccia
Bombs (rounded)
>64 mm
Agglomerate
Lapilli
2 64 mm
Lapilli stone
Coarse ash
1/16 - 1 mm
Sand
Coarse tuff
Fine ash
<1/16 mm
Fine tuff
Tuff, a general term for all consolidated pyroclastic rocks, can be further subdivided
based on the proportion of three principal components: 1) pumice and shards of glass, 2)
crystals and 3) rock fragments:
Pyroclastic rocks originate in several ways: as ash-fall deposits, formed when volcanic
ejecta fall back to the surface and as volcaniclastic flow deposits, which form then tephra
is remobilized and flows downslope. Examples of the latter deposit type include
ignimbrites, produced by nue ardente eruptions, surge deposits, produces by rapid,
episodic or discontinuous downslope movement, lahars or volcanic mudflows, and base
surges. The latter are sediment gravity flows that form when steam saturated eruption
columns collapse and travel outward across the ground surface.
A common, non-explosive volcanogenic deposit is autoclastic breccia, which forms
when the brittle crust of a lava flow, formed through radiant cooling, breaks into angular
pancake-like blocks as the result of subsequent flow movement. Hyaloclastites, formed
when flows come in contact with water causing rapid cooling that produces thin, brittle,
easily brecciated chilled rinds enveloping the still-mobile magma, are another example.
Nonvolcanogenic Sedimentary Rocks
Nonepiclastic sedimentary rocks unrelated to volcanism fall into three categories: 1)
cataclastic rocks, 2) collapse and solution breccias, and 3) meteoritic breccia.
Cataclastic breccias are produced by mechanical fragmentation of pre-existing rocks as
the result of tectonic forces (folding, faulting, and jointing). Collapse breccias form when
unsupported rocks collapse in on themselves and typically consist of large angular
blocks. Solution breccias are a specific type of collapse breccia formed as a result of the
dissolution of the supporting strata. Impact or fallback breccias are formed when bolides
(meteorites) impact the earths surface at high velocity.
LAB 4 ASSIGNMENT
1. Briefly compare and contrast nodular and bedded cherts, emphasizing their modes of
origin.
2. What are coprolites and describe how they are associated with sedimentary phosphate
deposits?