Sedimentary Rocks

Any rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) exposed at the Earth's surface

can become a sedimentary rock. The forces of wind, rain, snow, and ice combine
to break down or dissolve (weather), and carry away (transport) rocks exposed at
the surface. These particles eventually come to rest (deposited) and become hard
rock (lithified).
Sedimentary rocks tell us what the Earth's surface was like in the geologic past.
They can contain fossils that tell us about the animals and plants or show the
climate in an area. Sedimentary rocks are also important because they may contain
water for drinking or oil and gas to run our cars and heat our homes.

The Rock Cycle

is a group of changes. Igneous rock can change into sedimentary rock or into
metamorphic rock. Sedimentary rock can change into metamorphic rock or into igneous
rock. Metamorphic rock can change into igneous or sedimentary rock.

Igneous rock forms when magma cools and makes crystals. Magma is a hot liquid
made of melted minerals. The minerals can form crystals when they cool. Igneous rock
can form underground, where the magma cools slowly. Or, igneous rock can form
above ground, where the magma cools quickly.

On Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces. They can also carry rock
pieces to another place. Usually, the rock pieces, called sediments, drop from the wind
or water to make a layer. The layer can be buried under other layers of sediments. After
a long time the sediments can be cemented together to make sedimentary rock. In this
way, igneous rock can become sedimentary rock.

All rock can be heated. But where does the heat come from? Inside Earth there is heat
from pressure (push your hands together very hard and feel the heat). There is heat
from friction (rub your hands together and feel the heat). There is also heat from
radioactive decay (the process that gives us nuclear power plants that make electricity).

So, what does the heat do to the rock? It bakes the rock.

Baked rock does not melt, but it does change. It forms crystals. If it has crystals already,
it forms larger crystals. Because this rock changes, it is called metamorphic. Remember
that a caterpillar changes to become a butterfly. That change is called metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis can occur in rock when they are heated to 300 to 700 degrees Celsius.
When Earth's tectonic plates move around, they produce heat. When they collide, they
build mountains and metamorphose (met-ah-MORE-foes) the rock.

The rock cycle continues. Mountains made of metamorphic rocks can be broken up and
washed away by streams. New sediments from these mountains can make new
sedimentary rock.

The rock cycle never stops.

Composition of Sedimentary Rocks:

The composition of a sedimentary rock reflects many things such as, its source material,
the processes of erosion involved in the preparation, the way the parent sediment is
transported, the physical and chemical conditions prevailing at the site of deposition
and the post depositional processes leading to lithification.
The source material for a sediment may be any other rock, any combination of other
rocks and/ or any product of organic processes. Sediments may contain any of the
erosional debris of the earth, precipitates of materials dissolved in waters and/or the
remains of living matter.

Thus, fragments of igneous, metamorphic and previously formed sedimentary rocks,

vein materials and unconsolidated over burden (including soil) precipitates from
groundwater, salt from the sea, both hard and soft parts of organisms are all found in
sedimentary rocks.

When the rock materials are brought close to the surface and exposed to the atmosphere
and percolating groundwater, they undergo chemical decomposition and physical
disintegration, generally referred to as weathering. These changes depend on the rock
material being weathered, climatic condition and the topographic character of the area.

In cold and dry climates and for chemically resistant rocks physical weathering is most
important. In hot and humid climates and for rocks that are liable to chemical change,
chemical weathering becomes more important. In many places, as might be expected
physical as well as chemical weathering processes aid and abet each other.

Physical weathering takes place in the breaking of large pieces into small ones in
processes like frost heaving. As a result, though a mineral may be broken out of its
surrounding rock-say a grain of quartz or feldspar from a granite rock-no new substance
is formed. On the contrary, chemical weathering frequently results in the formation of
new minerals, since percolating waters may produce rearrangement of constituent ions
or may add or remove substances from the rock.

Weathering products which remain where they are formed are called residuum and
those weathered products which are transported and deposited elsewhere become
sediments. Deposits of organic matter like peat are exemplary of residuum. Beach sand
and river silt are examples of transported and deposited sediments.

Products of physical weathering are carried as fragments ranging from large boulders to
very small particles. These are transported in response to gravity or by water, glacier or
wind. They are deposited wherever the transporting agent is no longer able to carry
them. If the deposits are gravel, sand or silt, they are turned into rock to become
conglomerates, sandstones or siltstones.

Most products of chemical weathering are carried in solution. A few are carried in
colloidal suspension. The transporting agent is either surface water or groundwater.
Some waters may also carry in solution, materials derived from the atmosphere and/or
from organic and/or magmatic processes-for example, carbon dioxide, humic acids and
volcanic exhalations etc.

It is of particular importance to the formation of rocks that minerals can be deposited

from these natural solutions in various environments-for example, in pore spaces,
underground channels, around the orifices of springs and within basins of
sedimentation.

In each case the solution is changed chemically, so that one or more of its components
are precipitated to form deposits, for example calcite, aragonite or silica gel.
Subsequently, many of these precipitates become rocks or parts of rock such as
limestone, rock salt and chert.

Some precipitation is promoted by biological activities and is termed biochemical. In all

cases once formed the chemical sediments do not necessarily remain where they were
originally deposited and instead, they get broken up, transported and re-deposited
elsewhere, in some cases, in environments quite different from those in which they were
originally formed and deposited.

Mixtures of physically and or chemically transported materials are relatively common.

The following terms are used to call attention to noteworthy minor constituents of such
mixtures. Sandy sediments or rocks are sometimes called arenaceous, clayey ones are
called argillaceous, calcite bearing ones are called calcareous, carbon bearing ones are
called carbonaceous, iron bearing ones are called ferruginous and quartz bearing ones
are called siliceous.

Classification based on origin

Sedimentary rocks can be subdivided into four groups based on the processes
responsible for their formation: clastic sedimentary rocks, biochemical (biogenic)
sedimentary rocks, chemical sedimentary rocks, and a fourth category for "other"
sedimentary rocks formed by impacts, volcanism, and other minor processes.

Clastic sedimentary rocks

Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of other rock fragments that were cemented by
silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock (lithic)
fragments, clay minerals, and mica; any type of mineral may be present, but they in
general represent the minerals that exist locally
Biochemical sedimentary rocks

Biochemical sedimentary rocks are created when organisms use materials dissolved in
air or water to build their tissue. Examples include:

 Most types of limestone are formed from the calcareous skeletons of organisms
such as corals, mollusks, and foraminifera.
 Coal, formed from plants that have removed carbon from the atmosphere and
combined it with other elements to build their tissue.
 Deposits of chert formed from the accumulation of siliceous skeletons of
microscopic organisms such as Radiolaria and diatoms.

Chemical sedimentary rocks

Chemical sedimentary rock forms when mineral constituents
in solution become supersaturated and inorganically precipitate. Common chemical
sedimentary rocks include oolitic limestone and rocks composed of evaporite minerals,
such as halite (rock salt), sylvite, barite and gypsum.

"Other" sedimentary rocks

This fourth miscellaneous category includes rocks formed by Pyroclastic flows, impact
breccias, volcanic breccias, and other relatively uncommon processes.
Classification based on composition
Alternatively, sedimentary rocks can be subdivided into compositional
groups based on their mineralogy:

 Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, are dominantly composed of silicate minerals. The

sediment that makes up these rocks was transported as bed load, suspended load,
or by sediment gravity flows. Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks are subdivided
into conglomerates and breccias, sandstone, and mudrocks.
 Carbonate sedimentary rocks are composed of calcite (rhombohedral CaCO3),
aragonite (orthorhombic CaCO3), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), and other carbonate
minerals based on the CO2−3 ion. Common examples include limestone and the
rock dolomite.
 Evaporite sedimentary rocks are composed of minerals formed from the
evaporation of water. The most common evaporite minerals are carbonates (calcite
and others based on CO2−3), chlorides (halite and others built on Cl−),
and sulfates (gypsum and others built on SO2−4). Evaporite rocks commonly include
abundant halite (rock salt), gypsum, and anhydrite.
 Organic-rich sedimentary rocks have significant amounts of organic material,
generally in excess of 3% total organic carbon. Common examples include coal, oil
shale as well as source rocks for oil and natural gas.
 Siliceous sedimentary rocks are almost entirely composed of silica (SiO2),
typically as chert, opal, chalcedony or other microcrystalline forms.
 Iron-rich sedimentary rocks are composed of >15% iron; the most common forms
are banded iron formations and ironstones.
 Phosphatic sedimentary rocks are composed of phosphate minerals and contain
more than 6.5% phosphorus; examples include deposits of phosphate nodules,
bone beds, and phosphatic mudrocks.

Depositional environments
The setting in which a sedimentary rock forms is called the depositional environment.
Every environment has a characteristic combination of geologic processes, and
circumstances. The type of sediment that is deposited is not only dependent on the
sediment that is transported to a place (provenance), but also on the environment itself.
A marine environment means that the rock was formed in a sea or ocean. Often, a
distinction is made between deep and shallow marine environments. Deep marine
usually refers to environments more than 200 m below the water surface (including
the abyssal plain). Shallow marine environments exist adjacent to coastlines and can
extend to the boundaries of the continental shelf. The water movements in such
environments have a generally higher energy than that in deep environments, as wave
activity diminishes with depth. This means that coarser sediment particles can be
transported and the deposited sediment can be coarser than in deeper environments.
When the sediment is transported from the continent, an alternation
of sand, clay and silt is deposited. When the continent is far away, the amount of such
sediment deposited may be small, and biochemical processes dominate the type of rock
that forms. Especially in warm climates, shallow marine environments far offshore
mainly see deposition of carbonate rocks. The shallow, warm water is an ideal habitat
for many small organisms that build carbonate skeletons. When these organisms die,
their skeletons sink to the bottom, forming a thick layer of calcareous mud that may
lithify into limestone. Warm shallow marine environments also are ideal environments
for coral reefs, where the sediment consists mainly of the calcareous skeletons of larger
organisms.
In deep marine environments, the water current working the sea bottom is small. Only
fine particles can be transported to such places. Typically sediments depositing on the
ocean floor are fine clay or small skeletons of micro-organisms. At 4 km depth, the
solubility of carbonates increases dramatically (the depth zone where this happens is
called the lysocline). Calcareous sediment that sinks below the lysocline dissolves; as a
result, no limestone can be formed below this depth. Skeletons of micro-organisms
formed of silica (such as radiolarians) are not as soluble and still deposit. An example of
a rock formed of silica skeletons is radiolarite. When the bottom of the sea has a small
inclination, for example at the continental slopes, the sedimentary cover can become
unstable, causing turbidity currents. Turbidity currents are sudden disturbances of the
normally quite deep marine environment and can cause the geologically speaking
instantaneous deposition of large amounts of sediment, such as sand and silt. The rock
sequence formed by a turbidity current is called a turbidite.
The coast is an environment dominated by wave action. At a beach, dominantly denser
sediment such as sand or gravel, often mingled with shell fragments, is deposited, while
the silt and clay sized material is kept in mechanical suspension. Tidal
flats and shoals are places that sometimes dry because of the tide. They are often
cross-cut by gullies, where the current is strong and the grain size of the deposited
sediment is larger. Where rivers enter the body of water, either on a sea or lake
coast, deltas can form. These are large accumulations of sediment transported from the
continent to places in front of the mouth of the river. Deltas are dominantly composed of
clastic sediment (in contrast to chemical).
A sedimentary rock formed on land has a continental sedimentary environment.
Examples of continental environments are lagoons,
lakes, swamps, floodplains and alluvial fans. In the quiet water of swamps, lakes and
lagoons, fine sediment is deposited, mingled with organic material from dead plants and
animals. In rivers, the energy of the water is much greater and can transport heavier
clastic material. Besides transport by water, sediment can in continental environments
also be transported by wind or glaciers. Sediment transported by wind is
called aeolian and is always very well sorted, while sediment transported by a glacier is
called glacial till and is characterized by very poor sorting.
References
1. Wilkinson, Bruce H.; McElroy, Brandon J.; Kesler, Stephen E.; Peters, Shanan
E.; Rothman, Edward D. (2008). "Global geologic maps are tectonic
speedometers – Rates of rock cycling from area-age frequencies". Geological
Society of America Bulletin. 121 (5–6): 760–779. doi:10.1130/B26457.1.
2. ^ Buchner & Grapes (2011), p. 24

3. ^ a b Dott (1964)

4. ^ a b Blatt et al. (1980), p. 782

5. ^ a b c Prothero & Schwab (2004)

6. ^ a b Boggs (2006)

7. ^ Stow (2005)

8. ^ a b Levin (1987), p. 57

9. ^ Tarbuck & Lutgens (1999), pp. 145–146

10. ^ Boggs (1987), p. 105

11. ^ Tarbuck & Lutgens (1999), pp. 156–157