Table of Contents

 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS........................................................................................................3
 METAMORPHIC ROCKS.......................................................................................................5
 IGNEOUS ROCK.....................................................................................................................7
 LIMESTONE.............................................................................................................................9
 SANDSTONE.........................................................................................................................12
 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................14

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 INTRODUCTION
A stone is a piece of rock. It is a mass of hard, compacted mineral. The word "stone" also refers
to natural rock as a material, especially a building material. A Natural stone used as building
material include granite, marble and sandstone. Manufactured, artificial products, such
as concrete or clay bricks, are not stone.
Stone takes a while to heat up, and stays hot for a while. It does not conduct electricity well
Stone was one of the first materials used to make tools and buildings. It is a very sturdy
material. It is less affected by weather than wood or brick. Depending on the type of rock,
stone weathers away much more slowly. A stone in the river is reshaped by the water
and sediment flowing around it.
Stones can be used as primitive weapon. Person can throw it at enemy or animal, or use it to
make more damage in hand-to-hand combat.
A stone is larger than a grain of sand, gravel or pebbles. A boulder is a very large rock or stone.

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 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of small
particles and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or
other bodies of water at the Earth's surface. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes
that cause these particles to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock are
called sediment, and may be composed of geological detritus (minerals) or biological
detritus (organic matter). Before being deposited, the geological detritus was formed
by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of
deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents
of denudation. Biological detritus was formed by bodies and parts (mainly shells) of dead
aquatic organisms, as well as their fecal mass, suspended in water and slowly piling up on the
floor of water bodies (marine snow). Sedimentation may also occur as dissolved minerals
precipitate from water solution.
The sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earth's crust is extensive (73% of the
Earth's current land surface but the total contribution of sedimentary rocks is estimated to be
only 8% of the total volume of the crust. Sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust
consisting mainly of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers
as strata, forming a structure called bedding. The study of sedimentary rocks and rock strata
provides information about the subsurface that is useful for civil engineering, for example in the
construction of roads, houses, tunnels, canals or other structures. Sedimentary rocks are also
important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores.
The study of the sequence of sedimentary rock strata is the main source for an understanding
of the Earth's history, including palaeogeography, paleoclimatology and the history of life.
The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of sedimentary rocks is
called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and
overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such
as pedology, geomorphology, geochemistry and structural geology. Sedimentary rocks have
also been found on Mars.

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 The Origin of Sedimentary Rock
With a little bit of sleuthing, you can determine the origin of sedimentary rocks. Of course, if
you are going to be a rock detective, then you will need to be able to pick up on the clues
sedimentary rocks have to offer. In this lesson, you will discover how structures, such as graded
bedding, cross-bedding, ripple marks and mud cracks, provide clues about the environment
where the rocks formed.
Sedimentary rocks preserve a record of history because of the way they form. Sedimentary
rocks are comprised of bits of pre-existing rocks or minerals and some even contain bits of
organic material, such as plant and animal remains. These sediment grains get moved around
by natural forces, such as water, ice and wind, and then find a nice quiet place to settle. Layers
of sediment, called strata, build up over time and get compressed and cemented together to
form rock. By studying the way these strata are laid out and what they are composed of, you
can uncover clues about the origin of the rock.
Color
The color of a sedimentary rock is often mostly determined by iron, an element with two major
oxides: iron (II) oxide and iron (III) oxide. Iron (II) oxide (FeO) only forms under low oxygen
(anoxic) circumstances and gives the rock a grey or greenish colour. Iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) in a
richer oxygen environment is often found in the form of the mineral hematite and gives the
rock a reddish to brownish colour. In arid continental climates rocks are in direct contact with
the atmosphere, and oxidation is an important process, giving the rock a red or orange colour. 

Texture
The size, form and orientation of clasts (the original pieces of rock) in a sediment is called
its texture. The texture is a small-scale property of a rock, but determines many of its large-
scale properties, such as the density, porosity or permeability.
The 3D orientation of the clasts is called the fabric of the rock. Between the clasts, the rock can
be composed of a matrix (a cement) that consists of crystals of one or more precipitated
minerals. The size and form of clasts can be used to determine the velocity and direction
of current in the sedimentary environment that moved the clasts from their origin;
fine, calcareous mud only settles in quiet water while gravel and larger clasts are moved only by
rapidly moving water.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS

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Metamorphic 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 (100 megapascals (1,000 bar)
or more), causing profound physical or chemical change. The protolith may be
a sedimentary, igneous, or existing metamorphic rock.
Metamorphic rocks make up a large part of the Earth's crust and form 12% of the Earth's land
surface. They are classified by texture and by chemical and mineral assemblage (metamorphic
facies). They may be formed simply by being deep beneath the Earth's surface, subjected to
high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it. They can form
from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure, friction
and distortion. They are also formed when rock is heated by the intrusion of hot molten rock
called magma from the Earth's interior. The study of metamorphic rocks (now exposed at the
Earth's surface following erosion and uplift) provides information about the temperatures and
pressures that occur at great depths within the Earth's crust. Some examples of metamorphic
rocks are gneiss, slate, marble, schist, and quartzite.

TYPES OF METAMORPHIC ROCKS

 Common Metamorphic Rocks

 Foliated Metamorphic Rocks
 Non-Foliated Metamorphic Rocks

PROPERTIES OF METAMORPHIC ROCKS

The five basic metamorphic textures with typical rock types
are slaty (includes slate and phyllite; the foliation is called "slaty
cleavage"), schistose (includes schist; the foliation is called "schistosity"), gneissose (gneiss; the
foliation is called "gneissosity"), granoblastic (includes granulite, some marbles and quartzite),
and hornfelsic (includes hornfels and skarn).

USES

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uartzite and marble are the most commonly used metamorphic rocks. They are frequently
chosen for building materials and artwork. Marble is used for statues and decorative items like
vases (Figure). Quartzite is very hard and is often crushed and used in building railroad tracks.
Schist and slate are sometimes used as building and landscape materials.

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 IGNEOUS ROCK

Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ignis meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the

three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed
through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial
melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by
one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a
change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks
or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form
granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses. Igneous rocks
occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms, orogens, basins, large igneous
provinces, extended crust and oceanic crust.

ORIGIN

In 1902, a group of American petrographers proposed that all existing classifications of igneous
rocks should be discarded and replaced by a "quantitative" classification based on chemical
analysis. They showed how vague, and often unscientific, much of the existing terminology was
and argued that as the chemical composition of an igneous rock was its most fundamental
characteristic, it should be elevated to prime position.
Geological occurrence, structure, mineralogical constitution—the hitherto accepted criteria for
the discrimination of rock species—were relegated to the background. The completed rock
analysis is first to be interpreted in terms of the rock-forming minerals which might be expected
to be formed when the magma crystallizes, e.g., quartz feldspars, olivine,
akermannite, Feldspathoids, magnetite, corundum, and so on, and the rocks are divided into
groups strictly according to the relative proportion of these minerals to one another.

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 Texture
Texture is an important criterion for the naming of volcanic rocks. The texture of volcanic rocks,
including the size, shape, orientation, and distribution of mineral grains and the intergrain
relationships, will determine whether the rock is termed a tuff, a pyroclastic lava or a
simple lava.
However, the texture is only a subordinate part of classifying volcanic rocks, as most often there
needs to be chemical information gleaned from rocks with extremely fine-
grained groundmass or from airfall tuffs, which may be formed from volcanic ash.

USES

Igneous rocks have a wide variety of uses. One important use is as stone for buildings and
statues. Diorite was used extensively by ancient civilizations for vases and other decorative
artwork and is still used for art today (Figure 1).

Granite (figure 2) is used both in building construction and for statues. It is also a popular choice
for kitchen countertops. Peridotite is sometimes mined for peridot, a type of olivine that is used
in jewelry.

Pumice is commonly used as an abrasive. Pumice is used to smooth skin or scrape up grime
around the house. When pumice is placed into giant washing machines with newly
manufactured jeans and tumbled, the result is “stone-washed” jeans. Ground up pumice stone
is sometimes added to toothpaste to act as an abrasive material to scrub teeth.

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 LIMESTONE

Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of

marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are
the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium
carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolomite, which contains a high percentage of the
mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In old USGS publications, dolomite was referred to
as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolomites or
magnesium-rich limestones.
About 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak
acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to
millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.
Limestone has numerous uses: as a building material, an essential component
of concrete (Portland cement), as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in
products such as toothpaste or paints, as a chemical feedstock for the production of lime, as
a soil conditioner, or as a popular decorative addition to rock gardens.Limestone has long
fascinated earth scientists because of its rich fossil content. Much knowledge of
the Earth’s chronology and development has been derived from the study of fossils embedded
in limestone and other carbonate rocks. Limestone also has considerable commercial
importance. Limestones enriched in phosphate by the chemical action of ocean
waters constitute a principal source of raw materials for the fertilizer industry. When heated to
temperatures of 900 to 1,000 °C (1,650 to 1,800 °F), limestones will dissociate calcium
carbonate and yield carbon dioxide and lime, the latter having major applications in the
manufacture of glass and in agriculture. Certain varieties of limestone also serve as a building
stone; they are widely used for flooring, exterior and interior facings, and monuments.

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 Properties of Limestone

There are two types of sedimentary rocks: chemical and clastic. Limestone is
a chemical sedimentary rock, which forms from the solidification of minerals out of
solution into rock form. Because the chemicals in limestone can be readily dissolved by
acidic solutions and water, they are able to form karst topography.
Karst topography forms when limestone bedrock chemically reacts with liquids to form
unusual features, like stalactites and stalagmites, which are the strange pointy features
found in crystal caves around the world and sinkholes. When calcium-rich minerals in
limestone are dissolved into groundwater, it forms what is referred to as hard water or
water that has higher than normal pH and mineral content.
Depending on the conditions under which they formed, limestone can take on a number
of structural shapes, including granular (looking like mineral grains), massive (looking
like an irregular blob), crystalline (looking like individual, well-formed crystals), or clastic
(looking like fragments of rock). When limestones of any type undergo metamorphism,
they re-crystallize as marble. Because all limestone contains calcium carbonate, which
reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce bubbles, acid testing is considered one of the
most reliable field tests for limestone and calcite mineral identification.

Types of Limestone
There are several different types of limestone, including travertine, oolitic, and fossiliferous. All
types of limestone form from a combination of calcium carbonate-containing minerals,
primarily calcite and aragonite:

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 Uses

Limestone is very common in architecture, especially in Europe and North America. Many
landmarks across the world, including the Great Pyramid and its associated complex in Giza,
Egypt, were made of limestone. So many buildings in Kingston, Ontario, Canada were, and
continue to be, constructed from it that it is nicknamed the 'Limestone City'. On the island
of Malta, a variety of limestone called Globigerina limestone was, for a long time, the only
building material available, and is still very frequently used on all types of buildings and
sculptures. Limestone is readily available and relatively easy to cut into blocks or more
elaborate carving Ancient American sculptors valued limestone because it was easy to work and
good for fine detail. Going back to the Late Preclassic period (by 200–100 BCE), the Maya
civilization (Ancient Mexico) created refined sculpture using limestone because of these
excellent carving properties. The Maya would decorate the ceilings of their sacred buildings
(known as lintels) and cover the walls with carved limestone panels. Carved on these sculptures
were political and social stories, and this helped communicate messages of the king to his
people. Limestone is long-lasting and stands up well to exposure, which explains why many
limestone ruins survive. However, it is very heavy, making it impractical for tall buildings, and
relatively expensive as a building material.

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 SANDSTONE

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to

2 mm) mineral particles or rock fragments.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) because they are the most
resistant minerals to weathering processes at the Earth's surface, as seen in the Goldich
dissolution series. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be any color due to impurities within
the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and
black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features,
certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.
Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow the percolation of
water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them
valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Fine-grained aquifers, such as sandstones, are
better able to filter out pollutants from the surface than are rocks with cracks and crevices,
such as limestone or other rocks fractured by seismic activity.
Quartz-bearing sandstone can be changed into quartzite through metamorphism, usually
related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.

ORIGIN

Sandstones are clastic in origin (as opposed to either organic, like chalk and coal, or chemical,

like gypsum and jasper). They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments
of a pre-existing rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together
are typically calcite, clays, and silica. Grain sizes in sands are defined (in geology) within the
range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm (0.0025–0.08 inches). Clays and sediments with smaller grain sizes
not visible with the naked eye, including siltstones and shales, are typically
called argillaceous sediments; rocks with larger grain sizes,
including breccias and conglomerates, are termed rudaceous sediments.
The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages. First, a layer or layers of sand
accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a stream, lake, or sea) or
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from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling out from
suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of a body of water or ground
surface (e.g., in a desert or erg). Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand becomes sandstone
when it is compacted by the pressure of overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation
of minerals within the pore spaces between sand grains.
The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are often
derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colors will
usually be tan or yellow (from a blend of the clear quartz with the dark amber feldspar content
of the sand). A predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron
oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red (terracotta), with
additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones, both Old Red
Sandstone and New Red Sandstone, are also seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well
as central Europe and Mongolia. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source
for masonry, either as a primary building material or as a facing stone, over other forms of
construction.

USES
Sandstone has been used for domestic construction and housewares since prehistoric times,
and continues to be used.

Sandstone was a popular building material from ancient times. It is relatively soft, making it
easy to carve. It has been widely used around the world in constructing temples, homes, and
other buildings. It has also been used for artistic purposes to create ornamental fountains and
statues.
Some sandstones are resistant to weathering, yet are easy to work. This makes sandstone a
common building and paving material including in asphalt concrete. However, some that have
been used in the past, such as the Collyhurst sandstone used in North West England, have been
found less resistant, necessitating repair and replacement in older buildings. Because of the
hardness of individual grains, uniformity of grain size and friability of their structure, some
types of sandstone are excellent materials from which to make grindstones, for sharpening
blades and other implements. Non-friable sandstone can be used to make grindstones for
grinding grain, e.g., gritstone.
A type of pure quartz sandstone, orthoquartzite, with more of 90–95 percent of quartz, has
been proposed for nomination to the Global Heritage Stone Resource. In some regions of
Argentina, the orthoquartzite-stoned facade is one of the main features of the Mar del Plata
style bungalows.

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 CONCLUSION
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make
implements with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 3.4 million
years and ended between 8700 BCE and 2000 BCE with the advent of metalworking.
Stone Age artifacts include tools used by modern humans and by their predecessor species in
the genus Homo, and possibly by the earlier partly contemporaneous
genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Bone tools were used during this period as well but
are rarely preserved in the archaeological record. The Stone Age is further subdivided by the
types of stone tools in use.
The large numbers of archaeologists working on European prehistory have made detailed
studies of a wide range of materials. Mastering the diversity and complexity of this data is a
challenge. The sheer quantity of archaeological data and publications has grown greatly since
the 1970s, making it very difficult for any archaeologist to master even small parts of the
various sources. Writing syntheses covering large geographical areas has become much more
difficult and many worthwhile studies cannot be included in this survey. Yet we should not
shrink from writing broad overviews, otherwise students of the discipline would be limited to
isolated prehistories of Yorkshire, Brittany, Scania, Silesia, etc.

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