Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are formed by the lithification of inorganic and/or organic

sediments, or as chemical precipitates
 There are two types of sedimentary rocks: Clastic and Chemical

 Clastic sedimentary rocks form when existing parent rock material is

weathered, fragmented, transported, and deposited in layers that compact,
cement, and lithify to form sedimentary rocks.

 Chemical sedimentary rocks are formed by a variety of processes and are

divided into sub-categories including inorganic, and biochemical or
organic chemical sedimentary rocks.
 Inorganic chemical rocks form from chemicals that are dissolved in a
solution, transported, and chemically precipitated out of solution.
 Biochemical or Organic sedimentary rocks form when plant or animal
material is deposited and lithified. Those classified as biochemical
chemical generally involve some form of fossilization or the
accumulation of fossilized organism or organism remains, such as shell
fragments. Organic rocks that are classified as clastic, involve the
deposition of plant material and formation of peat and coal deposits.
 The physical, chemical, or biological changes that occur during the
lithification of sedimentary rocks are described by process collectively referred
to as diagenesis.
 The Classification of Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

A very basic classification of

all sedimentary rocks is
based on the type of
material that is deposited
and the modes of
deposition.
 TRANSPORT MEDIA
• Gravity is the simplest mechanism
of sediment transport.

• It includes the movement of

particles under gravity down a
slope.

• Rock falls generate piles of

sediment at the base of slopes,
typically consisting mainly of
coarse debris.

• These accumulations are seen as

scree along the sides of valleys in
mountainous areas.
 TRANSPORT MEDIA
• Water : Transport of material in water is by far the most significant of
all transport mechanisms.

• Water flows on the land surface in channels and as overland flow.

• Currents in seas are driven by wind, tides and oceanic circulation.

• These flows may be strong enough to carry coarse material along the
base of the flow and finer material in suspension.

• Material may be carried in water hundreds or thousands of km before

being deposited.
 TRANSPORT MEDIA

• Air :Wind blowing over the land can pick up dust and sand and
carry it large distances.

• The capacity of the wind to transport material is limited by the low

density of air.

• Ice: Water and air are clearly fluid media but we can also consider
ice as a fluid because over long time periods it moves across the
land surface.

• Ice is capable of transporting large amounts of clastic debris.

• Movement of detritus by ice is significant in and around polar ice

caps and in mountainous areas with glaciers
•
Transport of particles in a fluid
Particles of any size may be moved in a fluid by one of three
mechanisms

– Rolling: the clasts move by rolling along at the bottom of the air
or water flow without losing contact with the bed surface.

– Saltation: the particles move in a series of jumps,periodically

leaving the bed surface, and carried short distances within the
body of the fluid before returning to the bed again.

– Suspension: turbulence within the flow produces sufficient

upward motion to keep particles in the moving fluid more-or-less
continually.

• Particles being carried by rolling and saltation are referred to as

bedload, and the material in suspension is called the suspended load.

• At low current velocities in water only fine particles (fine silt and clay)
and low density particles are kept in suspension

• Sand-size particles move by rolling and some saltation.

• At higher flow rates all silt and some sand may be kept in suspension
with granules and fine pebbles saltating and coarser material rolling.

• These processes are essentially the same in air and water but in air
higher velocities are required to move particles of a given size because
of the lower density and viscosity of air compared with water.
 Terrestrial sedimentary environments
• Soils
• Desert deposits
• Lake deposits
• Glacial deposits
• River deposits
• Delta deposits (transitional between
terrestrial and marine realm)

Diagenesis
Diagenesis collectively refers to the physical, chemical, and biological changes which may
occur during the formation of sedimentary rocks. Recrystallization, compaction,
cementation, and lithification, are all examples of diagenetic changes.

 Recrystallization occurs when unstable minerals recrystallize to form more stable

minerals. Recrystallization most often occurs during the formation of chemical
sedimentary limestone rocks that previously contained aragonite a chemically unstable
form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

 Compaction occurs when sediments are progressively deposited on top of one another,
and over time the weight of the accumulated sediments increases and compresses the
buried sediments. Continued compression of buried sediments reduces pore-spaces and
removes excess water, as a result the closely packed individual grains begin to slowly
compact into a solid rock.

 Cementation involves a chemical change whereby individual grains are cemented

together as minerals are precipitated out of saturated solution that is percolating as a
matrix between individual sediments. The accumulation of the precipitated minerals
causes the grains to cement together. Cementation can occur in combination with the
presence of other minerals, rock fragments, or organic constituents such as fossilized
organisms.

 Lithification occurs when unconsolidated sediments are cohesively bound to form a

solid sedimentary rock. Compaction and/or cementation are generally the precursor to
the lithification process.
 Naming and Classifying
Sedimentary Rocks
 Geologists name and classify sedimentary rocks based on their
mineral composition and texture

 Mineral composition refers to the specific minerals in the rock.

For example sandstone will contain predominantly quartz,
while limestone will contain mainly calcite (calcium
carbonate).

 Texture includes the grain size and shape, sorting, and

rounding of the sediments that form the rock.

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 Texture: Grain Size
Grain size is used to describe the size of the individual mineral grains,
rock fragments, or organic material that are cemented together to
form a clastic or chemical sedimentary rock
Grain Size Categories Grain Size Divisions

very coarse-grained > 16 mm

coarse grained > 2 mm < 16 mm

medium grained > 0.25 mm < 2 mm

fine grained > 0.032 mm < 0.25 mm

very fine-grained > 0.0004 mm < 0.032 mm

cryptocrystalline < 0.0004 mm (4 μm )

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 Classifying Sedimentary Rocks
CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
TEXTURE SEDIMENT PARTICLE SIZE OTHER CHARACTERISTICS SEDIMENTARY ROCK
Rounded rock fragments, Conglomerate
Poorly-sorted
Gravel (> 2 mm)
Angular rock fragments, Breccia
Poorly-sorted
Quartz (>50%), Quartz sandstone
Moderate – well sorted
CLASTIC Quartz with Feldspar, Arkose
Sand (0.0625 mm – 2 mm) Moderate –Well sorted
Quartz, Feldspar, Clays, Rocky Graywacke
Fragments,
Well-sorted
Mud (< 0.0625 mm) Fine, thin layers, or cohesive clumps, Shale, Siltstone, and
Well-sorted Mudstone
NON CLASTIC OR CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS (INORGANIC AND BIOCHEMICAL)
GROUP TEXTURE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION SEDIMENTARY ROCK
clastic or non-clastic Calcite, CaCO3 Limestone
non-clastic Dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2 Dolostone
INORGANIC non-clastic Microcrystalline quartz, SiO2 Chert
non-clastic Halite, NaCl Rock salt
non-clastic Gypsum, CaSO4 ۰2H20 Rock Gypsum
clastic or non-clastic Calcite CaCO3 Limestone
BIOCHEMICAL non-clastic Microcrystalline quartz, SiO2 Chert
15
non-clastic Altered plant remains Coal
 Classification based on grain size
A simple classification of terrigenous clastic rocks and sediment is
based on the predominant grain size of the material:

Grain Sediment Rock Name Adjectives

Size1 name
(mm)
>2 Gravel Rudite Cobble, pebble, well
sorted, etc.
0.0625-2 Sand Arenite Coarse, medium, well
sorted, etc.
< 0.0625 Mud Mudstone Silt or clay
or
Lutite
 Texture: Sorting
 Sorting is used to describe the grain size distribution or range of grain
sizes in a rock.

 Poorly sorted rocks contain a variety of different sized grains.

Poorly sorted rocks contain a wide range of grain sizes including
fine, medium, and coarse.

 Well sorted rocks contain almost all grains of the same size.

 Moderately sorted rocks contain particles of relatively similar grain

sizes. Moderately sorted rocks may contain fine and medium
grains, or medium and coarse grains.
Poorly Sorted Well Sorted

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 Texture: Rounding
 Rounding is used to describe the relative shape of the grains. Classifications
are describe as deviations from rounded or spheroidal grain shapes.

 Well rounded grains are smooth with rounded edges..

 Moderately rounded grains are in-between the sharp, angular edges of a poorly
rounded grain and the smooth, roundness of a well-rounded grain.

 Poorly rounded grains may be sharp or angular.

Well-rounded,
spheroidal grains Poorly–rounded,
angular grains

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 Texture and Weathering
 The texture of a sedimentary rock can provide a lot of information about the types of
environments that the sediments were weathered in, transported by, and deposited in
prior to their lithification into sedimentary rocks.

 Most sedimentary rocks consist of grains that weathered from a parent rock and were
transported by water, wind, or ice before being deposited.

 Grain size is a good indicator of the energy or force required to move a grain of a
given size. Large sediments such as gravel, cobbles, and boulders require more
energy to move than smaller sand, silt, and clay sized sediments. Grain size is also
an indicator of the distance or length of time the sediments may have traveled.
Smaller grain sizes generally indicate greater transport distances and duration than
larger grains.

 Sorting will generally improve with the constant or persistent moving of particles,
and thus can indicate if particles were transported over a long distance or for a long
time period. Sorting can also indicate selective transport of a particular grain size.

 Rounding is a good indicator for the amount of abrasion experienced by sediments.

In general, sediments that have been transported longer distances will be more
rounded than those which have traveled shorter distances.
 An example based on these principles, is that sediments deposited by rapid mass wasting
events, such as landlsides are expected to be coarse grained, poorly sorted, and poorly
rounded; and sediments deposited by slower, more gradual processes, such as dune 19
formation, are expected to be fine grained, well sorted, and well rounded.
Sedimentary Structures
 Introduction to Primary sedimentary
structures
• The term “structure” can be used in two different
senses:

– Features, on the scale of hand specimens to large

outcrops, produced within a depositional environment,
during or (usually) not long after deposition. These are
usually called sedimentary structures.

– Features, on the scale of hand specimens to whole regions,

produced by deformation associated with regional rather
than local deforming forces, (e.g. folding and faulting)
These are called tectonic structures.
Importance of Sedimentary Structures

• Study of sedimentary structures is important because

they are far and away the most valuable features for
interpreting depositional environment.

• How most structures are formed is known, so finding

them in the rocks can tell a lot about the conditions of
deposition.

• They are much more useful than textural things like

grain-size distribution and grain shape.
 Classification of Sedimentary
Structures

• Two ways of classifying sedimentary structures is

on the basis of:

– kind of mechanism that produces them (physical

sedimentary structures, chemical sedimentary
structures, and biogenic sedimentary structures) and

– time of development relative to time of deposition

(primary sedimentary structures and secondary
sedimentary structures).
Classification of Sedimentary
Structures
Sedimentary
Physical Chemical Biological
Structure
Stratification Bioturbation
Primary Stratification
Sole Marks (Tracks, Trails)
Deformation Nodules
Bioturbation
Secondary Intrusion Stylolites
(Burrows)
Desiccation Deformation
 Classification of Sedimentary
Structures
• Physical primary sedimentary structures are
certainly the most common and widespread
and striking, in general are the most useful in
interpreting the depositional environment

• Most are related to transportation and

deposition of sediment particles at a
fluid/sediment interface.
 Stratification
• Stratification is by far the
most important
sedimentary structure.

• Stratification can be
defined simply as
layering brought about
by deposition.

• Stratification comes
about by changes in
depositional conditions
with time.
 Stratification
• Stratification is usually obvious, especially on the scale of large
outcrops,
• In looking for the stratification, always think in terms of changes in
composition, texture, and/or structure from bed to bed.
• Here's a list of things that tend to make stratification apparent to
the eye:

– differences in grain size

– differences in composition
– color/shade differences caused by slight differences in composition
– differential weathering caused by differences in composition/texture
– zones of larger or smaller concentration of individual components, like
pebbles or fossils in otherwise homogeneous sediment;
 Laminations

Stratification
• Stratification is officially
subdivided into bedding and
lamination, depending upon
the thickness of the
strata, and bedding and
lamination are in turn
subdivided according to
thickness.

• Strata between 1 cm to 100

cm are known as beds Lamination

Bedding Planes
• Strata less than 1 cm thick are
known as laminations
 Origin of Stratification
• Quiet-fluid deposition of particles by settling
– ocean bottom (plus lakes) mainly; low-velocity currents carrying a supply of
suspended sediment
– usually fine-grained but not always
– usually thin lamination, because deposition rate is slow
– usually nearly or perfectly even and planar, unless later deformed

• Deposition of particles by tractional currents

– deposition onto a well defined fluid-sediment interface during transport by
moderate to strong currents;
– stratification thick to thin depending on nature of variations in sediment
supply, currents, and deposition rate;
– even stratification and cross stratification can be formed

• Mass deposition of coarse and fine sediment

– by sediment gravity flows (high-concentration sediment-water mixtures
flowing as a single fluid)
– coming to rest without differentiation or particle-by-particle deposition;
– usually thick-bedded, with little or no internal stratification.
 Cross-Bedding

Cross Stratification
• Cross stratification is stratification that is
locally at some angle to the overall stratification
as a consequence of changes in the geometry of
the depositional surface during deposition.

• Usually one or more beds in some part of a

section show cross stratification.

• The vertical scale of cross stratification varies

from millimeters to several meters, and the
geometry is infinitely varied.

• Cross stratification varies enormously in

geometry.

• Cross stratification is probably the single most

useful tool in interpreting the physical aspects
of loose-sediment depositional environments.

• Cross stratification can be classified as either

cross bedding or cross lamination.
 Clast-size variations: graded bedding
• The grain size in a bed is usually
variable and may show a pattern of
an overall decrease in grain size
from base to top, known as normal
grading, or a

• pattern of increase in average size

from base to top, called reverse
grading

• Normal grading is more common

and can result from the settling of
particles out of suspension or as a
consequence of a decrease in flow
strength through time.
 Graded Beds

Flysch: old *Alpine+ name for thick sequences of turbidites “laid down in a deep trench
marking an active plate boundary (like a subduction zone).” PM p17
 Graded Bedding (2)
Discuss “Younging
direction”.
 Graded Bedding
• In graded
bedding, the
largest grains
collect at the
bottom of a layer
and the grain size
decreases toward
the top.
 Ripples and Sand Dunes
• A bedform is a morphological feature
formed by the interaction between a
flow and sediment on a bed.
• Ripples in sand in a flowing stream and
sand dunes in deserts are both
examples of bedforms.
• Ripples result from flow in water.
• Sand dunes are formed due to airflow.
• The patterns of ripples and dunes are
products of the action of the flow.
• The formation of bedforms creates
distinctive layering and structures within
the sediment that can be preserved in
strata.
• Recognition of sedimentary structures
generated by bedforms provides
information about the strength of the
current, the flow depth and the
direction of sediment transport.
 Current Ripples
• Ripple marks are small waves of sand that develop on
the surface of a sediment layer by the action of
moving water.

• The ridges form at right angles to the direction of

motion.

• If the ripple marks were formed by water moving in

essentially one direction, their form will be
asymmetrical.

• These current ripple markswill have steeper sides in

the downcurrent direction and more gradual slopes
on the upcurrent side.

• Ripple marks produced by a stream flowing across a

sandy channel is an example of current ripples.

• When viewed from above current ripples show a

variety of forms .

• They may have relatively continuous straight to

sinuous crests (straight ripples or sinuous ripples) or
form a pattern of unconnected arcuate forms called
linguoid ripples.
 Wave Ripples
• Other ripple marks have a symmetrical form.

• These features, called oscillation ripple marks,

result from the back-and-forth movement of
surface waves in a shallow near shore
environment.

• The oscillatory motion of the top surface of a

water body produced by waves generates a
circular pathway for water molecules in the top
layer .

• In shallow water, the base of the water body

interacts with the waves.

• Friction causes the circular motion at the

surface to become transformed into an
elliptical pathway, which is flattened at the
base into a horizontal oscillation.

• This horizontal oscillation may generate wave

ripples in sediment.
Ripple marks
 Distinguishing wave and current
ripples
• Distinguishing between wave and current ripples can be critical to
the interpretation of palaeo-environments.

• Wave ripples are formed only in relatively shallow water in the

absence of strong currents, whereas current ripples may form as a
result of water flow in any depth in any subaqueous environment.

• These distinctions allow deposits from a shallow lake or lagoon to

be distinguished from offshore or deep marine environments, for
example.

• The two different ripple types can be distinguished in the field on

the basis of their shapes and geometries.

• In plan view wave ripples have long, straight to sinuous crests which
may bifurcate (divide) whereas

• Current ripples are commonly very sinuous and broken up into

short, curved crests.

• When viewed from the side wave ripples are symmetrical with
cross-laminae dipping in both directions either side of the crests.

• In contrast, current ripples are asymmetrical with cross-laminae

dipping only in one direction,
 Trough Cross-beds
• Trough cross-beds have lower surfaces which
are curved or scoop shaped and truncate the
underlying beds.

• If the bedform is a ripple the resulting structure

is referred to as cross-lamination.

• Ripples are limited in crest height to about

30mm so cross-laminated beds do not exceed
this thickness.

• Migration of dune bedforms produces cross-

bedding.

• A single unit of cross-laminated, cross-bedded

or cross-stratified sediment is referred to as a
bed-set.

• Where a bed contains more than one set of the

same type of structure, the stack of sets is
called a co-set.
 Mud cracks
• Mud cracks are polygonal
cracks that form when
mud shrinks as it dries.

• They indicate that the

mud accumulated in
shallow water that
periodically dried up.

• The spacing of desiccation

cracks depends upon the
thickness of the layer of
wet mud, with a broader
spacing occurring in
thicker deposits.
 Erosional Sedimentary Structures
• Small-scale erosional features on a bed
surface are referred to as sole marks.

• They are preserved in the rock record

when another layer of sediment is
deposited on top leaving the feature on
the bedding plane.

• Sole marks may be divided into those

that form as a result of turbulence in the
water causing erosion (scour marks) and

• impressions formed by objects carried in

the water flow (tool marks).
 Classification of Sandstones
Most sandstone classifications are based on the composition of the
rock.

Dott’s classificaton scheme is used in most courses at Brock.

It is based on the relative proportions of:

Martrix (fine-grained - <0.03mm - material that is associated with the sand grains).

Quartz

Feldspar

Rock fragments (sand grains that are made up crystals of two or more different
minerals).