What is a sedimentary rock?

•  Sedimentary rocks are products of mechanical and

chemical weathering

•  They account for about 5 percent (by volume) of Earth’s

outer 10 miles

•  They contain evidence of past environ-ments

•  Provide information about sediment transport
•  Often contain fossils
 Turning sediment into rock
•  Many changes occur to sediment after it is deposited

•  Occurs within the upper few kilometers of Earth’s crust

•  Diagenesis – all of the chemical, physical, and biological

changes that take place after sediments areosited
•  Includes
•  Recrystallization – development of more stable minerals from
less stable ones
•  Lithification – unconsolidated sediments are transformed into
solid sedimentary rock by
•  Compaction
•  Cementation

Types of sedimentary rocks
•  Sediment originates from mechanical and/or chemical
weathering

•  Rock types are based on the source of the material

•  Detrital rocks – transported sediment as solid
particles
•  Chemical rocks – sediment that was once in
solution
 Detrital sedimentary rocks
•  The chief constituents of detrital rocks include
•  Clay minerals
•  Quartz
•  Feldspars
•  Micas

•  Particle size is used to distinguish among the various

types of detrital rocks
Particle sizes for detrital rocks

Table 6.1
 Detrital sedimentary rocks
•  Common detrital sedimentary rocks (in order of
increasing particle size)
•  Shale
•  Mud-sized particles in thin layers that are
commonly referred to as laminea
•  Most common sedimentary rock
Shale containing plant remains

Figure 6.2
Detrital sedimentary rocks

•  Sandstone
•  Composed of sand-sized particles
•  Forms in a variety of environments
•  Sorting, shape, and composition of the grains can
be used to interpret the rock’s history
•  Quartz is the predominant mineral
Quartz sandstone

Figure 6.4
Detrital sedimentary rocks

•  Conglomerate and breccia

•  Both are composed of particles greater than 2mm
in diameter
•  Conglomerate consists largely of rounded gravels
•  Breccia is composed mainly of large angular
particles
Conglomerate

Figure 6.6
Breccia

Figure 6.7
Chemical sedimentary rocks

❑  Chemical s.r. : Derive from material that is carried in

solution – does not remain dissolved in water, some is
precipitate to form chemical sediments.

❑  Chemical processes responsible for the origin, as when

minerals form from inorganic chemical reaction/chemical
activities of organisms.

❑  Texture: crystalline (gypsum) & clastic (limestone-

seashell).
Chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Consist of precipitated material that was once in

solution

•  Precipitation of material occurs in two ways

•  Inorganic processes
•  Organic processes (biochemical origin)
Chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Common chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Limestone
•  Most abundant chemical rock
•  Composed chiefly of the mineral calcite
•  Marine biochemical limestones form as coral reefs,
coquina (broken shells), and chalk (microscopic
organisms)
•  Inorganic limestones include travertine and oolitic
limestone
Limestone

•  10% of all sedimentary rock
•  Most abundant
•  Composed of calcite (CaCO3)
•  Form by biochemical processes
•  Varies type because form under variety of condition
•  Having 3 types: skeletal limestone, oolitic
limestone, microcrystalline limestone
Dolostone

•  Composed of the mineral dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2

calcium magnesium carbonate
•  From by direct precipitation from seawater
•  Brownish yellow or light gray
•  Form from biochemical rocks
•  Most is ancient rock
•  React with acid only
•  Decay of plants and animal.
•  Accumulation and lithification of plants and
animals (shell)
•  Swamp region, sea.
Australia Great Barrier Reef
Limestone, Perak
Limestone, Perak
Coquina

Figure 6.9
 Fossiliferous limestone

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Prentice Hall, Inc.

Chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Common chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Dolostone
•  Typically formed secondarily from limestone
•  Chert
•  Made of microcrystalline quartz
•  Varieties include flint and jasper (banded form is
called agate)
Chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Common chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Evaporites
•  Evaporation triggers deposition of chemical
precipitates
•  Examples include rock salt and rock gypsum
Rock salt

Figure 6.15
Chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Common chemical sedimentary rocks

•  Coal
•  Different from other rocks because it is composed
of organic material
•  Stages in coal formation (in order)
1. Plant material
2. Peat
3. Lignite
4. Bituminous
Classification of sedimentary rocks

•  Sedimentary rocks are classified ac-cording to the type

of material

•  Two major groups

•  Detrital
•  Chemical
Classification of sedimentary rocks

•  Two major textures are used in the classification of

sedimentary rocks
•  Clastic
•  Discrete fragments and particles
•  All detrital rocks have a clastic texture
•  Nonclastic
•  Pattern of interlocking crystals
•  May resemble an igneous rock
Classification of Sedimentary rocks

Figure 6.14
Sedimentary environments

•  A geographic setting where sediment is accumulating

•  Determines the nature of the sediments that

accumulate (grain size, grain shape, etc.)
Sedimentary environments

•  Types of sedimentary environments

•  Continental
Dominated by erosion and deposition associated
• 
with streams
•  Glacial
•  Wind (eolian)
•  Marine
•  Shallow (to about 200 meters)
•  Deep (seaward of continental shelves)
Formation – Sedimentary rocks
•  Sedimentary rocks are formed of the overburden pressure as particles of
sediment are deposited out of air, ice, wind, or water flows carrying the
particles in suspension.
•  As sediment deposition builds up, the overburden pressure squeezes the
sediment into layered solids in a process known as lithification and the
original connate fluids are expelled.
•  Sedimentary rocks are laid down in
layers called beds or strata.
•  Each new layer is laid down horizontally
over older ones in a process
called superposition.
Lithification

❑  Lithification – transforming sediment →

sedimentary rocks, involved of compaction and/or
cementation.
❑  Compaction : from weight of overlaying sediment –
reduce pore spaces & volume.
❑  Cementation : consists of chemically precipitated
minerals in pore spaces that bind the particles. E.g
calcium carbonate (CaCO3), silicon dioxide (SiO2).
 COMPACTION


•  From weight of overlaying sediment compresses the deeper

sediments.
•  Reduce pore spaces
•  Reduce volume.
•  Compaction occurs as the weight of accumulating
sediment forces the rock and mineral grains together.
This reduces pore space and eliminates some of the
contained water
Cementation

•  Cementation is a result of water circulating through

the pore spaces of a sediment.
•  •If that water carries in it dissolved substances that
then precipitate out during circulation, those
substances left behind in the sediments can act as
cementing agents.
•  •Calcium carbonate is one of the most common
cements because it is found abundantly in seawater.
SHALE

•  Consist of silt and clay,shale covers over half of sedimentary rocks

•  Particles is the smallest among other type of DSR
•  Deposition occurs as a result of gradual settling from nonturbulent
conditions. e.g lake,lagoons
•  Deposition occurred in an oxygen-poor environment like swamp,where
organic materials do not oxidize
SANDSTONE

•  After shale,sandstone is most abundant sedimentary rock (20 %)

•  Sorting is degree of similarity in particle size in a sedimentary rock
•  Well sorted – all grains in sandstone are about same size
•  Poorly sorted – rock contains mixed large and small particles
•  Poor sorting usually result when particles are transported for a short
time and distance and quickly deposited
•  Shapes of sandstone can also determine the history of sandstone
•  If the transportation is long,the grains lose their sharp edges and become
more rounded. It’s because they collide with other grains often enough.
•  If the transportation is short,the grains tend to be more angular
•  Length of trasportation also influence its mineral composition
•  Long trasportation caused gradual destruction of weaker minerals.
e.g feldspar
•  Usually quartz mineral survive the long trip.That’s because the mineral is
very durable
•  Quartz sandstone – sandstone that have many quartz mineral
 CONGLOMERATE OR BRECCIA

•  Large enough to be identified as rock types

•  Poorly sorted because contain sand or mud between the grains
•  If the large particles is angular rather than rounded, it is called Breccia
•  Breccia indicate that they did not travel far before they were deposited
•  Particles size reveal the strength of the currents that carried them
•  Degree of rounding indicate how far the particles travelled
Figure 1: Depositional environments.

•  FIG 5.18A - 130

Environment of deposition for detrital rocks.
Typical Characteristics

•  Non- homogeneous
•  Bedding plane
•  Structures like folding may occur

Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock

EaES 350-6
Sedimentary rock