b) Alumino-siliceous arenites

These are mainly arkoses and greywackes.

Arkose refers to rocks directly derived from the alteration of granites and gneiss (metamorphic
rock of mineralogical composition close to granite), practically without transport. They often
contain more than 30% feldspars, and little debris of rocks. The equivalent for loose rock is the
granitic sand.

c) Alumino-siliceous lutites: clays

This group includes the clays themselves which are soft rocks, the shales (argilites) which are
consolidated clays. The numerous and varied clay minerals give these rocks particular properties
(rocks that are generally easy to hydrate and becoming plastic).

When they are bedded, the term shale is often used. By dehydration and action of pressure, the
clays are transformed into schists, foliated and cleavable rocks.

Marls are clayey rocks containing 35 to 65% calcium carbonate. They have properties similar to
those of clays, but they are effervescent with acids in contrast to the latter.
Clays are generally rich in organic matter and are closely related to the genesis of hydrocarbons.
They constitute the majority of hydrocarbon source rocks.
Due to their very low permeability, plasticity and abundance, they form the covers of many
hydrocarbon reservoirs.

3. Carbonate rocks

These are the rocks containing CO3- - carbonate ion. Apart from some accessory minerals often of
terrigenous origin, they are composed almost exclusively of calcite and dolomite. As a result,
there are two main groups:
• limestones consisting of more than 50% calcium carbonate,
• dolomites consisting of more than 50% of dolomite (calcium and magnesium double
carbonate).

Main types:
- Limestone: Characteristics: porous, prospected in the oil and gas industry (constitute
reservoirs), hardness too low for use in pavement, used as a building stone and
as concrete aggregates, lime and cement ore.
- Cargneules: Characteristics: type of vacuolar rocks, very weak, full of holes,
permeable, very troublesome in civil engineering, low compressive strength.

- 43 -
The grains
Depending on the size of the grains, the rock can be classified in one of the following categories:
calcirudite, calcarenite, calcilutite.

Pores and porosity

The porosity and permeability of carbonate rocks are highly variable depending on the
phenomena involved during diagenesis. These rocks are more often fractured than sandstones.
Carbonate rocks contain about 35% of known hydrocarbon reserves.

3.1. Limestone Rocks:

These are rocks formed mainly of calcium carbonate. CaCO3 falls into the category of soluble
products, the result of the chemical weathering (chemical alteration) of pre-existing rocks. It
crystallizes in the form of calcite and, more rarely, aragonite. They are difficult to distinguish
one from the other.
The precipitation of CaCO3 dissolved in water is under the action of physicochemical factors. In
addition, the accumulation of calcareous remains of living organisms (skeleton, shells) is another
form of deposit.
The main characters of recognition are: effervescence with HCl, and the fact that they are
scratched by steel.

3.1.1. Pure limestones:

- limestones characterized by their structure (usually of chemical origin)

- Fine grained limestone: so-called lithographic limestone if the grain is very fine. They
settled in calm seas or lakes. Smooth break and of any form.
- Nodular limestone: have in their mass ovoid nodules which are more resistant than the rest
of the rock.
- Oolitic limestones: they are constituted by small calcareous balls (oolites) with a diameter
of a few tenths of mm to 1mm, embedded in a calcareous cement, these limestones are
formed in the tropical seas.
- Limestone Tuffs limestones: Spongy inlays formed at the emergence of limestone sources,
they contain many plant debris.
- Travertine: lacustrine limestone, yellowish, and vacuolar limestone containing traces of
plants and molluscs.
- Stalactites (falling from the ceiling), stalagmites (rising from the floor), and various
concretions lining the walls of natural cavities in limestone country.

- Limestones with organisms

- Chalk: formed by the accumulation of shells of microscopic organisms. White, friable,
porous.
- Shells Limestone: contain remains of fossils sometimes very abundant (for example
molluscs, like oysters).
- Debris Limestone: shell limestone in which the shells have been broken and are often
difficult to recognize.

- 44 -
 - Reef limestones: very pure, massive, very light-colored, with many sections of shells.

3.1.2. Impure limestones:

- Sandy Limestone (detrital limestone)

All transition terms exist between Sandy limestone and calcareous sandstones. They contain
quite a lot of debris, including quartz grains. They scratch the steel and the glass.

- Siliceous limestones
Fine-grained limestone containing silica, the content of which can reach 20 to 30%. It scratches
the steel and polishes the glass.

- Clayey Limetones
These rocks are of considerable importance because of the thickness of the series they commonly
constitute. According to the relative proportions of calcium carbonate and clay, the following
types are distinguished:

- Limestone 0 to 5%
- Clay limestones 5 to 35%
Properties of limestones
but more tender.
- Marls 35 to 65%
hard but, in general,
soft to the touch; Bluish gray color
more or less dark;
it has a strong effervescence with HCl
- Limestone clays 65 to 95%
- Clays 95 to 100%

3.2. Dolomitic rocks :

- Dolomites

Essential component: dolomite, and double carbonate of Ca and Mg. Touch rougher than
limestone. Variable color but often cream or gray. Weak effervescence with acid.

-Cargneules

Dolomitic breccia with limestone cement. In the vicinity of the surface, the rock may assume a
vacuolar appearance.

- 45 -
4. Saline rocks or evaporites

Salt water, subjected to a progressive concentration by evaporation allows to deposit, first the
less soluble salts, then the most soluble ones. These rocks form in confined environments (lakes,
lagoons).

A complete evaporitic sequence comprises from bottom to top:

• carbonates: dolomite, magnesite (MgCO3),
• sulphates: anhydrite, gypsum,
• chlorides: halite, sylvite.

- Gypsum is the most common form of sulphate precipitation. Gypsum is a form of alteration of
anhydrite. It is rare to observe anhydrite in outcrop. Conversely, it is rare to encounter drilling
gypsum at depths greater than a few hundred meters.
Evaporites are rocks that are neither porous nor permeable. From the oil point of view, they are
very important. They are excellent permeability barriers responsible for abnormal pore pressures
and hydrocarbon trapping.

5. Carbonaceous and hydrocarbon rocks

Under this term we group all the carbonaceous bodies derived from the fossilization of living
organic matter. They fall into three categories:
• Coals that come from plant-rich organic matter rich in lignin and cellulose, molecules that
are relatively resistant to bacterial actions.
• Kerogens composed of complex organic molecules of large size and high molecular
weight, insoluble in organic solvents. They result from the action of certain bacteria on
organic matter of vegetable and animal origin, followed by a weak thermal diagenesis.
Kerogens are closely related to the mineral matter of the rock, from which they can only be
separated by distillation. They are found in oil shale.
It is the most abundant form of organic matter present on the globe.
• Hydrocarbons mainly derive from kerogens by thermal diagenesis occurring during the
burial of sediments. A small part comes from the early decomposition of organic matter by
bacteria.

We can still note the following types:

- Peat:
Felting of plant fibers and debris (about 60% carbon). Lightweight. Dark color: brown
to black.

- 46 -
-Lignite :
Very dark brown or black (70% carbon). Woody debris recognizable. Matte or shiny breakage.
Disintegrates in the air, with drying. Relatively light.
- Coal "Houille":
Black and compact (80% carbon). Debris barely recognizable. It leaves a black mark.
-Anthracite :
Black slightly shiny (90% carbon). Dense and massive.
- Oil shale:
Gray pads giving off a bitumen color on heating. Asphalt is a solid residue
of their distillation used to coat roads.
- Oil :
Thick and viscous liquid, density around 0.8. Brown or greenish color, fluorescent.

The name of sediments and sedimentary rocks

In general, the denomination of sediments and sedimentary rocks is done in two stages.

Firstly according to the particle size (granulometry) in terrigenous and allochemicals. Two sizes
are important to remember: 0.062 and 2 mm. The particle size does not intervene in the case of
orthochemicals since they are chemical precipitates and not transported particles.

Then, the classification is completed by the mineralogical composition. The composition of

terrigenous particles is summarized as quartz, feldspar, rock fragments (pieces of ancient rocks
that have been cleared by erosion) and clays minerals (for example, the sands of New England
beaches are mainly quartz particle sands with some feldspars). As for the allochemicals, they are
mainly limestones, which is reflected by the suffix CAL in the name. The particles of the

- 47 -
allochemicals are formed largely by the shells or pieces of shells of organisms (calcite or
aragonite). The sediments of the tropical zones are mainly formed of these shells, as for example
the white sands of certain beaches. In orthochemicals, the name is essentially determined
according to the chemical composition.

- 48 -
 CHAPTER 5
METAMORPHIC ROCKS

Metamorphic rocks

Metamorphic rocks result from the transformation of igneous or sedimentary rocks under the
effect of temperature and/or high pressures. Two major types of metamorphism occur in the
majority of metamorphic rocks: contact metamorphism and regional metamorphism. A third type
is more restricted: shock metamorphism.

Contact metamorphism

Contact metamorphism is that which occurs in the host rock in contact with intrusives. When the
magma, still very hot, is introduced into a sequence of cold rocks, there is heat transfer (the
arrows) and cooking of the enclosed rock at the borders.

The minerals of this rock are transformed by heat and we obtain a metamorphic rock. Thus, the
clay limestones into which the magma have been introduced and which today forms Mount
Royal, have been transformed all around the intrusive mass, into a hard and brittle rock which is
called a hornfeld. This transformed border is called a metamorphic halo. Its width will depend on
the size of the intrusive mass, from a few millimeters to several hundred meters, even a few
kilometers in the case of very large intrusive masses.

Regional metamorphism and metamorphic foliation

Regional metamorphism is that which affects large areas. It is both controlled by significant
increases in pressure and temperature. It is the metamorphism of the roots of mountain chains.
Regional metamorphism produces three major transformations: often very extensive deformation
of the rock, the development of so-called metamorphic minerals and the development of
metamorphic foliation. In the latter case, the crystals or particles of an igneous or sedimentary

- 49 -