How are the layers of rocks (stratified rocks)

formed?

Joel Chavez, B.S., MS. Geology, University of Idaho

Answered Jun 30 2018 · Author has 84 answers and 8k answer
views
By the deposition of material of like composition and
texture, usually by water. One on top of another.
These layers are turned into rock via pressure and
temperature. In a sequence of sedimentary rock, one
often sees a subtle change in texture between layers.
The texture become more progressively fine as the
layers are deposited on top of one another. This
“fining upwards,” is often barley visible, but can be
seen with magnication, or felt by touch or by
scraping with a pocket knife.
Richard Bucklew, MS Paleontology & Geology,
University of Oxford (1980)
Answered Jun 30, 2018
Stratification (or bedding) is expressed by rock
layers (units) of a general tabular or lenticular form
that differ in rock type or other characteristics from
the material with which they are interstratified
(sometimes stated as interbedded, or interlayered).
These beds, or strata, are of varying thickness and
areal extent. The term stratum identifies a single
bed, or unit, normally greater than one centimetre in
thickness and visibly separable from superjacent
(overlying) and subjacent (underlying) beds. “Strata”
refers to two or more beds, and the term lamina is
sometimes applied to a unit less than one centimetre
in thickness. Thus, lamination consists of thin units
in bedded, or layered, sequence in a natural rock
succession, whereas stratification consists of bedded
layers, or strata, in a geologic sequence of
interleaved sedimentary rocks.
Robert Simpson-Clark, BSc Geology & Physical Chemistry (1972)
Answered Jul 1, 2018 · Author has 194 answers and 29.5k answer
views
The operative force is gravity. Tectonism raises rock
upwards to form highlands and erosion cuts them down.
The resulting debris (sediment) moves inexorably
downward until the energy moving the sediment balances
the friction of the sediment against the surface it is moving
over. At that point it begins to accumulate as a layer.
Episodic events like wind storms or seasonal water flow
may leave individually observable layers and, of course,
changes in the elevation or environment can start new
erosion, moving the sediment ever downward. Eventually
the sediment will reach a point when there is little chance
of it moving further and significant deposition occurs,
resulting in the accumulation of the sedimentary
formations we see. Changes in the source of the sediment
or the environmental conditions alter the makeup of the
sediment forming different types of strata. There are very
few exceptions to this rule (coral reefs come to mind as
one exception), even most limestones accumulate at the
gravitational low point.