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PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY
7.0 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND PROCESSES
Overview of the sedimentary process

Sediment particles that have been mechanically transported by water, wind or ice or chemically precipitated from solution, or
secreted by organisms, and deposited in loose layers on the Earths surface.
they constitute only 7% of the crust but cover 75% of its surface.
they contain the entire fossil record of the Earth.
in them are recorded the composition, climate, topography of former landmasses, as well as physical, chemical and
biological conditions of the oceans that no longer exist.
they provide the means of retaining the chronological record of the past
also of significant economic importance: groundwater, gold, copper, zinc, iron, lead, diamonds, limestone, sand, gravel, clay,
oil, gas, coal.
Size classification:
1) Gravel includes particles coarser than 2 mm in diameter (boulder > 256 mm, cobble 256-64 mm and pebble 64-2 mm)
2) Sand grains from 1/16-2 mm
3) Silt grains from 1/2561/16 mm; too small to see without a magnifying glass.
4) Clay finest sediment, at least 1/256 mm in size.
Types of sediments:
1) Detrital fragments derived from the weathering of rocks, transported by water, wind or ice and deposited in loose
layers on the Earth;s surface.
2) Chemical particles precipitated directly from water.
3) Biochemical precipitated directly or indirectly by the activities of organisms

Origin of sedimentary rocks:

Weathering the physical disintegration and chemical alteration and decomposition of rocks exposed to the atmospheric
influences at the Earths surface.
Transport The disintegrated rock particles are transported by water, wind or ice from their source or parent rock to sites of
deposition. During transport, the sediments are subjected to:
a) rounding the grinding away of sharp edges and corners of rock fragments during transport.
b) b) Sorting process in which sediment grains are selected and separated according to grain size or grain shape and
specific gravity.Deposition when transported material settles or comes to rest as the medium of transport loses energy
and can no longer transport its load.
also refers to the accumulation of chemical or organic sediment, such as shells, in the sea floor or plant material on the
floor of a swamp.
Deposition of salt crystals can take place as seawater evaporates.
A change in temperature, pressure or chemistry of solutions may also cause precipitation. E.g., deposit of silica and
calcite from hot springs.
Streams carry the greatest sediment load. They deposit sediments in a variety of environments, where they are buried
by later deposits and converted to sedimentary rocks.
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Environment of deposition the location in which deposition occurs (deep sea floor, desert valley, river channel, coral reef,
lake bottom, beach, sand dune). Each environment is marked by characteristic physical, chemical and biological conditions.
Preservation sediments are preserved when they are protected from further erosion, usually by being buried by later
sediments.
Lithification The conversion of sediment into rock trough such processes as compaction, cementation and recrystallization.
Compaction reduction in volume of sediments resulting from the weight of newly deposited sediments above.

The spaces between grains of sediments are called pores, which may be empty or filled with finer sediment called matrix. If the
matrix consists of clay and silt, compaction will harden the matrix.
If the matrix is filled with groundwater or saltwater saturated with silica, calcium carbonate or iron oxides, these compounds will
precipitate and bind the grains together in a process called cementation.
Recrystallization the formation of new crystalline mineral grains in a rock.
Classification of sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary rock rock that has formed from: (i) lithification of sediment; (ii) precipitation from solution; consolidation from the
remains of plants and animals.
Types of sedimentary rock:
1) Clastic (or detrital) formed from cemented sediment grains that are fragments of preexisting rocks (e.g.,
conglomerate, sandstone, shale)
2) Chemical deposited by precipitation of minerals from solution (e.g., rock salt, limestone)
3) Organic or biochemical rocks formed by the accumulation of the remains of organisms.

Clastic (or detrital rocks)

Sedimentary breccia coarse-grained sedimentary rock formed by the cementation of coarse, angular fragments of rubble;
formed not far from the source (e.g, landslides, talus, etc.)
Conglomerate coarse-grained sedimentary rock formed by the cementation of rounded gravel; though formed not far from the
source, some transport was necessary to round the angular edges.
Sandstone a medium-grained sedimentary rock formed by the cementation of sand grains.
Quartz sandstone sandstone in which more than 90% of the grains are quartz; the sediment or source rock has
undergone extensive weathering, such that only the most resistant mineral, quartz, remains; transported over great
distances to concentrate the quartz.
Arkose sandstone in which more than 25% of the grains are feldspar; the rock has not undergone severe chemical
weathering; transportation distance is relatively short.
Graywacke (lithic sandstone) more than 15% of the rocks volume consists of fine-grained matrix; often tough and dense,
generally dark grey or green in color. The sand grains consist primarily of lithic (or rock) fragments, feldspar, quartz.
The composition and texture of most coarse detrital rocks are determined primarily by their weathering and transport history. A
pure, well-rounded and sorted quartz sandstone is the end-product of that history. Often, it is the result of several cycles of
erosion. Quartz sandstone is considered a mature rock.
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Maturity of detrital sediments

Turbidite deposits
Most graywacke probably formed from sediments transported by turbidity currents, dense masses of sediment-
laden water that flow downslope along the sea floor. The sediment-water mixture is heavier that clear water, so it is
pulled downslope by gravity. Any disturbance earthquake, storm, too much load may send dense flows of
sediments down submarine slopes. The sediments that result are called turbidites.

Fine-grained rocks
Shale fine grained sedimentary rock notable for its splitting capability (called fissility). Splitting takes place along the surfaces
of very thin layers called laminations within the shale. They deposit on lake bottoms, at the ends of rivers in deltas, beside
rivers in floods, and on the quiet parts of the ocean floor. Depending on the size of particles fine grained rocks are called
siltsone, shale and mudstone.

Carbonate rocks
Limestone a sedimentary rock composed mostly of calcite (CaCO 3), usually precipitated in shallow seawater through the
actions of organisms. Increasing water temperature and lowering pressure causes calcium carbonate to precipitate. Thus,
carbonate sediments are directly precipitated in the warm, shallow waters of tropical to subtropical seas but are rarely
precipitated in great quantities at higher latitudes and deeper water.

Types of limestone:
1) Biochemical limestone
a) chalk fine-grained limestone consisting of billions of Microscopic organisms that settled in shallow water.
b) coquina composed of large, poorly cemented shell fragments.
c) micrite fine-grained limestone formed from the lime mud; deposited in water devoid of current or wave action (e.g.,
tidal flat or quiet lake)
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Coral reefs form where warm ocean currents sweep abundant nutrients to shallow waters; built of the myriad skeletal
secretions of tiny colonial coral. Live coral must grow close to sea level where light can penetrate.Chemical limestone
Oolitic limestone directly precipitated limestone consisting of caviar-sized particles called ooids. An ooid consists of a minute
sand-grain nucleus, around which are wrapped layers of calcium carbonate. The calcite layers precipitated around the sand
grain as it was tossed about by the waves.

A reef complex

Other sedimentary rocks

1) Evaporites rocks that formed from crystals that precipitate during evaporation of water (e.g., rock gypsum and rock
salt)
2) Chert A hard, compact, fine-grained sedimentary rock formed almost entirely of organisms that secrete silica for their
shells. These organisms, radiolaria and diatoms, are very tiny single celled.
3) Coal a sedimentary rock formed from the consolidation of plant material; it is rich in carbon and usually black; it burns
readily. Coal usually develops from peat, a brown, lightweight unconsolidated deposit of moss or of the plant material
that accumulates in wet bogs.

Sedimentary structures
Bed (or stratum) The smallest division of stratified (or bedded) sedimentary rock, consisting of a single distinct sheetlike layer
of sedimentary material, separated from the beds above and below by relatively well-defined planar surfaces called bedding
planes which mark a break in sedimentation.
Stratification the condition shown by sedimentary rocks of being disposed in horizontal layers of beds.
Lamina the thinnest or smallest recognizable unit layer of original deposition in a sediment or sedimentary rock, differing from
the other layers in color, composition or particle size , and resulting from variations in the rate of supply of deposition of different
material during a momentary or local fluctuation in the velocity of the depositing current. Such a sedimentary layer is <1 cm in
thickness

Types of bedding:
1) Current or cross-bedding the development of internal laminations within a stratum inclined at an oblique angle to
the main bedding planes, resulting from changes in the direction of water or wind currents during deposition. It is most
commonly developed in sandstones.
2) Graded bedding Sedimentary bedding in which particles show a size distribution. The coarsest material forms the
base and the sequence becomes progressively finer upwards. It is often present in turbidity deposits.
3) Mud cracks also known as dessication cracks, they are irregular fractures in a crudely polygonal pattern formed by
the shrinkage of clay, silt or mud in the course of drying under the influence of atmospheric surface conditions.
4) Ripple marks - The most common minor beach morphological form, consisting of fairly regular and generally small
ridges formed in sediment on a river bed, in the inter-tidal zone, or on the seabed seaward of low-water mark. Ripples
are caused by water or wind flow, and are aligned more or less perpendicularly to the flow direction.
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FORMATION OF CROSS-BEDDING

FORMATION OF GRADED BEDDING

FORMATION OF RIPPLE MARKS

Glacial deposit mostly confined to higher latitudes; usually more disordered than those laid down by streams or in the sea.
Boulder-clay or till is the dominant deposit, consisting of unsorted and unstratified heterogenous mixture of clay, sand, gravel
and boulders varying widely in size and shape.
Alluvial fan a low, outspread, relatively flat to gently sloping mass of loose rock material, shaped like an open fan or a
segment of a cone, deposited by a stream at the place where it issues from a narrow mountain valley upon a plain or broad
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valley, or where a tributary stream is near or at its junction with the main stream, or wherever a constriction in a valley abruptly
ceases or the gradient of the stream suddenly decreases.
Flood plain flat surfaces adjacent to streams over which streams spread in times of flood. It is built of alluvium (recent clastic
sediments) carried by the river during floods. The sediments are called flood plain deposit.
River channel deposit may consist of sediments of all sizes and shape. Abundant load can result in the formation of channel
bars, elongate deposits of sand and gravel located in the course of the stream.
Lake deposit sedimentary deposit laid down conformably on the floor of a lake, usually consisting of coarse material near the
shore and sometimes passing rapidly into clay and limestone in deeper water; most of it is fluvial or glacial in origin.
Sand dunes consists of loose sand piled or heaped up by the wind, commonly found along low-lying seashores above high-
tide level, more rarely on the border of a large lake or river valley, as well as in various desert regions.
Delta The low, nearly flat alluvial tract of land deposited at or near the mouth of a river, commonly forming a triangular or fan-
shaped plain of considerable area. The term was introduced by Herodotus in 5 B.C. for the tract of land at the mouth of the Nile
River, whose outline resembled the Greek capital letter delta with the apex pointing upstream.
Beach a shore of a body of water, formed and washed by waves or tides, usually covered by sandy or pebbly material.
Lagoon - A shallow stretch of seawater, near or communicating with the sea and partly or completely separated from it by a
low, narrow, elongate strip of land such as a reef, barrier island, sandbank, etc. Sand and silt dominate the sediments
deposited, with or without organic matter.
Barrier island a long, low, narrow wave-built sandy island representing a broadened barrier beach that is sufficiently above
high tide and parallel to the shore, and that commonly has dunes, vegetated zones, and swampy terranes extending
lagoonward from the beach.
Shelf continental shelf; a relatively wide, shallowly submerged platform
Slope continental slope; the steep part of the continental margin abutting the continental shelf.
Abyssal fan a terrigenous (land-derived sediments) cone- or fan-shaped deposit located seaward of large submarine
canyons. They often form turbidites.
Pelagic sediments deep-sea sediments without terrigenous material; they are either inorganic clay or organic ooze (pelagic
sediment consisting of at least 30% skeletal remains of pelagic organisms, and clay).