Other Types of Sedimentary Rocks

 Evaporites
 Chert
 Iron-rich Rocks
 Phosphorites
 Coal
Evaporites
 Water-soluble mineral sediment that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous
solution
ABUNDANCE
 Evaporite minerals are very soluble.
 Gypsum- least soluble evaporite mineral, 150 times more soluble than calcite
 Halite- 50 times more soluble than gypsum
 Evaporites rarely occur in outcrop except in arid regions. In these areas, gypsum is the most common and
abundant. Halite in outcrop is rare.
 Evaporite beds are common in the subsurface and numerous large evaporite basins have been identified.
 Areas underlain by potassium salts are also underlain by halite, gypsum, and anhydrite. Areas underlain by halite are
also underlain by gypsum and anhydrite. Areas underlain by gypsum and anhydrite do not contain halite.
MINERALOGY
 Evaporite minerals are precipitated from a saline solution as a result of extensive or total evaporation of the water.
 The variety and abundance of minerals produced from an evaporating body of water depend on its initial
composition; and because the range in possible parent waters is very large, so is the variety of evaporite minerals.
 Approximately, 70 evaporite minerals are known, of which 27 are sulfates, 27 are borates and 13 are halides.
TYPES OF EVAPORITES
1. MARINE- ocean deposits
-tend to have thicker deposits and are usually the focus of more extensive research
Examples: Chlorides(Halite, Sylvite, Carnallite)
Sulfates(Anhydrite, Langbeinite, Polyhalite, Kieserite, Gypsum, Kainite
2.NON-MARINE– found in standing bodies of water such as lakes.
-composed of minerals that are not common in marine environments because in general, the
water from which non-marine evaporites precipitates has proportions of chemical elements different from those found in
the marine environments
> Most Common Minerals:
Sodium Carbonates: Trona, Natron, Nahcolite, Gaylussite
Sodium Sulfates: Mirabilite ,
Sodium Borates, Borax, Kernite, Colemanite
SINKHOLES
 Sinkholes and other karst features sometimes develop in areas underlain by limestones but occur in almost all areas
underlain by evaporites.
 Karst features
- it develops in limestone terranes for a thousand of years
-form only a few days, weeks, or months in evaporiteterranes sinkholes
LABORATORY STUDIES
 In thin sections of ancient evaporite beds, apparently primary and clearly secondary textures can both be observed,
although the distinction between the two is not always clear-out because of frequent diagenetic modifications.
Chert
 Chert is the general term for very fine-grained and nonporous sedimentary rocks that consist mostly or entirely of
silica, in the form of either amorphous silica or microcrystalline quartz presumably derived from recrystallization of
amorphous silica. The non-scientific equivalent term is flint.
 The quartz crystals are typically 5 to 20 micrometer, but cherts that consists of coarser or finer crystals are common.
 Most chert beds are quite pure, in concert with other chemically formed sedimentary rocks, such as evaporites,
limestones, and dolomites, etc.
Occurrences
 Chert occurs in three different types of stratigraphic and tectonic settings:
1. As nodules and silt-sized grains in carbonate rocks deposited at shallow and intermediate depths.
2. As pure, bedded chert adjacent to tectonically active plate margins.
3. In association with hypersaline lacustrine deposits or devitrified volcanic ash.
Chert in Shallow-Water Limestones
Chert in limestones typically occurs as nodules that are irregularly shaped, usually less in structure, dense masses of
microcrystalline quartz.
 The chert nodules occur most commonly in limestones, although they have also been reported in mudrocks and
sandstones and can also be associated with dolomite and evaporites.
Bedded Cherts at Plate Margins
Stratigraphic sections that contain bedded cherts up to several hundred meters thick are commonly found along tectonically
active plate margins, in association with graded turbites, ophiolites, and melanges.
 Individual chert layers in bedded cherts range in thickness from a few centimeters to a meter or more. They are
evenly bedded, thinly laminated to massive, and typically green, red, or black in color, although white bedded cherts
termed novaculite are common in some areas.
Cherts in Saline, Alkaline Lakes
Thin beds and nodules of chert occur is some nonmarine.
 The chert occurs chiefly as thin, discontinuous beds or as a plates or nodules of irregular shape formed at or slightly
below the water sediment interface
 Typically, chert is dense, homogenous, and translucent and has a thin, soft white opaque rind.
IRON-RICH ROCKS
-are sedimentary rocks which contain 15% or more iron. However, most sedimentary rocks contain iron in varying degrees.
The majority of these rocks were deposited during specific geologic time periods: The Precambrian (3800 to 570 million years
ago), the early Paleozoic (570 to 410 million years ago), and the middle to late Mesozoic (205 to 66 million years ago).
Overall, they make up a very small portion of the total sedimentary record.
Iron-rich sedimentary rocks have economic uses as iron ores. Iron deposits have been located on all major continents with
the exception of Antarctica. They are a major source of iron and are mined for commercial use. The main iron ores are from
the oxide group consisting of hematite, goethite, and magnetite.
IRON MINERALS
-Ankerite (Ca(Mg,Fe)(CO3)2) and Siderite (FeCO3) are carbonates and favor alkaline, reducing conditions. They commonly
occur as concretions in mudstones and siltstones.
-Pyrite and marcasite (FeS2) are sulfide minerals and favor reducing conditions. They are the most common in fine-grained,
dark colored mudstones.
-Hematite (Fe2O3) is usually the pigment in red beds and requires oxidizing conditions.
-Limonite (2Fe2O3·3H2O) is used for unidentified massive hydroxides and oxides of iron.
TEXTURES AND STRUCTURES
-the variety of textures and structures in cherty iron formations is much like that in Precambrian carbonates.
The allochemical iron-rich rocks contain intraclasts, peloids, ooids, and pisoliths and are termed granular.
BANDED IRON FORMATIONS
-Banded iron formations (BIFs) were originally chemical muds and contain well developed thin lamination. They are
able to have this lamination due to the lack of burrowers in the Precambrian. BIFs show regular alternating layers that are rich
in iron and chert that range in thickness from a few millimeters to a few centimeters. The formation can continue uninterrupted
for tens to hundreds of meters stratigraphically. These formations can contain sedimentary structures like cross-
bedding, graded bedding, load casts, ripple marks, mud cracks, and erosion channels. In comparison to GIFs, BIFs contain a
much larger spectrum of iron minerals, have more reduced facies, and are more abundant.
GRANULAR IRON FORMATIONS
Granular iron formations (GIFs) were originally well-sorted chemical sands. They lack even, continuous bedding that
takes the form of discontinuous layers. Discontinuous layers likely represent bedforms that were generated by storm waves
and currents. Any layers that are thicker than a few meters and are uninterrupted, are rare for GIFs. They contain sand-sized
clasts and a finer grained matrix, and generally belong to the oxide or silicate mineral facies
IRON FORMATIONS AND IRON STONES
 Iron Formations are generally cherty, thinly laminated, and Precambrian in age.
 Ironstones are generally less siliceous, more aluminous, not laminated, smaller, and Phanerozoic in age.
In the Lake Superior Precambrian province, the cherty iron ores are termed taconite.
PHOSPHORITES
Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock which contains high amounts
of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to
20% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5). Marketed phosphate rock is enriched ("beneficiated") to at least 28%, often more than
30% P2O5. This occurs through washing, screening, de-liming, magnetic separation or flotation.
PHOSPHOROUS PENTOXIDE
Phosphorus pentoxide is a chemical compound with molecular formula P4O10 (with its common name derived from
its empirical formula, P2O5). This white crystalline solid is the anhydride of phosphoric acid. It is a powerful desiccant
and dehydrating agent.
PHOSPHORIA FORMATION
The Phosphoria Formation was deposited under marine conditions in a foreland basin located between the Paleozoic
continental margin and the North American cratonic shelf. The upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich marine water at that time
stimulated the growth of plankton and nekton, resulting in the accumulation of organic matter on the sea floor. That, coupled
with low rates of clastic and carbonate sedimentation, led to the high phosphate and hydrocarbon content of the formation, as
well as elevated levels of cadmium, chromium, copper, fluorine, molybdenum, nickel, rare earth
elements, selenium, uranium, vanadium, and zinc.
COAL
-Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal
beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later
exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with variable quantities of other
elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
-Coal is a fossil fuel that forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-
bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes. The
geological processes take place over millions of years.
COAL PROCESS
The process that creates coal varies slightly in different areas depending on the plants and conditions that are present, but
the overall process is similar. There are two main phases in coal formation:peatification and coalification. Bacterial activity is
the main process that creates the peat during peatification. Increasing temperature and pressure from burial are the main
factors in coalification.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
WHAT IS METAMORPHISM?
 Mineralogical and structural adjustments of solid rocks to physical and chemical conditions differing from those under
which the rocks originally formed.The most important agents of metamorphism include temperature, pressure, and
fluids.
 Metamorphic processes:
1) Mechanical dislocation - a rock is deformed, especially as a consequence of differential stress;
2) Chemical recrystallization - a mineral assemblage becomes out of equilibrium due to temperature and
pressure changes and a new mineral assemblage forms.
TYPES OF METAMORPHISM
1. Dynamic metamorphism - results mainly from mechanical deformation with little long-term temperature change.
Textures produced by such adjustments range from breccias composed of angular, shattered rock fragments to very
fine-grained, granulated or powdered rocks with obvious foliation and lineation.
2. Contact metamorphism - occurs primarily as a consequence of increases in temperature when differential stress is
minor.
3. Regional metamorphism - results from the general increase, usually correlated, of temperature and pressure over a
large area. May include an extreme condition, where partial melting occurs, calledanatexis.
 4. Retrograde metamorphism - the response of mineral assemblages to decreasing temperature and pressure.
5. Metasomatism - the metamorphism that includes the addition or subtraction of components from the original
assemblage.
6. Poly-metamorphism - the effect of more than one metamorphic event
7. Hydrothermal metamorphism - the changes that occur in the presence of water at high temperature and pressure
which affect the resulting mineralogy and rate of reaction.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
 Rocks formed from other rocks
 Sedimentary or igneous rocks that have undergone changes as a result of extreme pressure and heat.
 The name defines their formation whereby ‘meta’ means change and ‘morph’ means ‘form.’
 Those whose forms have been changed through geological process such as large tectonic movements and magma
intrusions.
 Rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means “change
in form”
 The original rock (protolith) is subjected to heat (temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C) and pressure (1500 bars)
 The protolith may be a sedimentary rock, an igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock.

FORMATION OF METAMORPHIC ROCKS

 Large tectonic movements and magma intrusions create earth movements and subsequently cause the pre-existing
rocks to move and shift. In turn, the movements subject other rocks buried deep below the earth’s surface to extreme
pressure and heatwhich contributes to changes and assemblage of the rocks texture, mineralogy, and chemical
composition.
 The changes typically modify the rock’s crystal type and sizes and may also subject the rocks to further radical
changes. Metamorphic processes come about at heats between 150° and 795° Celsius with the capability of
producing high energy that can break and reform the chemical compositions of the rocks. Pressure from the overlying
rocks also increases the process of transformation.
 Heat from magma and friction along fault lines is the major contributor of the heat that brings about the rock changes.
Even though the rocks do not actually melt, some mineral groupings redistribute the elements within the original
minerals to form new compositions of minerals that are more stable at the new temperatures and pressures.
 The intense temperature gradient between the country rocks and the surrounding molten magma is the driving factor
for the changes in texture and chemical composition. As a result, the original rocks are transformed into metamorphic
rocks. Metamorphic rocks formed from direct magma heating and intrusions are termed as thermal or contact
metamorphic rocks.
 Those formed as a result of widely distributed pressure and temperature changes induced by tectonic movements
are known as regional metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic rocks are largely grouped into foliated and non-foliated rocks
FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Foliated metamorphic rocks are formed within the Earth's interior under extremely high pressures that are unequal,
occurring when the pressure is greater in one direction than in the others (directed pressure). This causes the minerals in
the original rock to reorient themselves with the long and flat minerals aligning perpendicular to the greatest pressure
direction. This reduces the overall pressure on the rock and gives it a stripped look.
1. GNEISS - Gneiss is a foliated metamorphic rock that has a banded appearance and is made up of granular mineral
grains. It typically contains abundant quartz or feldspar minerals.
2. PHYLLITE - Phyllite is a foliated metamorphic rock that is made up mainly of very fine-grained mica. The surface of
phyllite is typically lustrous and sometimes wrinkled. It is intermediate in grade between slate and schist
3. SCHIST - Schist is a metamorphic rock with well-developed foliation. It often contains significant amounts of mica
which allow the rock to split into thin pieces. It is a rock of intermediate metamorphic grade between phyllite and
gneiss.
4. SLATE - Slate is a foliated metamorphic rock that is formed through the metamorphism of shale. It is a low-grade
metamorphic rock that splits into thin pieces. Formed at very low temperatures and pressures, rock breaks along
nearly perfect parallel planes; used in pool tables and as roofing material
NON-FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS
Nonfoliated metamorphic rocks are formed around igneous intrusions where the temperatures are high but the pressures
are relatively low and equal in all directions (confining pressure). The original minerals within the rock recrystallize into
larger sizes and the atoms become more tightly packed together, increasing the density of the rock.
 1. HORNFELS - Hornfels is a fine-grained nonfoliated metamorphic rock with no specific composition. It is produced by
contact metamorphism. Hornfels is a rock that was "baked" while near a heat source such as a magma chamber, sill,
or dike.
2. MARBLE - Marble is a non-foliated metamorphic rock that isproduced from the metamorphism of limestone or
dolostone. It is composed primarily of calcium carbonate.
3. QUARTZITE - Quartzite is a non-foliated metamorphic rock that is produced by the metamorphism of sandstone. It is
composed primarily of quartz.
4. NOVACULITE - Novaculite is a dense, hard, fine-grained, siliceous rock that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. It
forms from sediments deposited in marine environments where organisms such as diatoms (single-celled algae that
secrete a hard shell composed of silicon dioxide) are abundant in the water.
METAMORPIC ISOGRADS
 An isograd is a plane of constant metamorphic grade in the field; it separates metamorphic zones of different
metamorphic index minerals.
 The boundaries between rocks of different metamorphic grade are commonly demarcated by isograd lines.
 A line on a map joining points at which metamorphism proceeded at similar values of pressure and temperature as
indicated by rocks belonging to the same metamorphic facies.

ADDITIONAL NON-FOLIATED METAMORPHIC ROCKS

 Soapstone - a metamorphic rock that consists primarily of talc with varying amounts of other minerals such as micas,
chlorite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, and carbonates. It is a soft, dense, heat-resistant rock that has a high specific heat
capacity.
 Anthracite - the highest rank of coal. It has been exposed to enough heat and pressure that most of the oxygen and
hydrogen have been driven off, leaving a high-carbon material behind. It has a bright, lustrous appearance and
breaks with a semi-conchoidal fracture