IMPORTANT SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

CONGLOMERATES (SEDIMENTARY ROCKS)

Definition
• These are sedimentary rocks of clastic nature and also belong to rudaceous
group.
• They consist mostly of rounded fragments of various sizes but generally above
2mm.
• The roundness of gravels making the rock is a useful characteristic to differentiate
it from breccia in which the fragments are essentially angular.
• The roundness indicates that the constituent gravels have been transported to
considerable distances before their deposition and transformation into conglomerate
rock.
Types
Boulder-Conglomerates (gravels> 256mm)
Cobble-Conglomerate (gravels: 64-256 mm)
On the basis of source of the gravels, as
(i) Basal-conglomerates
• Having gravels derived from advancing sea-waves over
subsiding land masses;
(ii) Glacial-conglomerates
Glaciers carry a lot of coarse-grained material and many
glacial deposits are conglomeratic
(iii) Volcanic-conglomerates
In which gravels are of distinct volcanic origin but have
subsequently been subjected to lot of transport resulting in their
smoothening and polishing by river transport before their
deposition and compaction or cementation.
BRECCIA (SEDIMENTARY ROCKS)
• It is a mechanically formed sedimentary rock classed as Rudite.
• It consists of angular fragments of heterogeneous composition
embedded in a fine matrix of clayey material.
• The fragments making breccia are greater than 2mm average
diameter but some times these may be quite big in dimensions.
• The angularity of the fragments indicates that these have suffered
very little or even no transport after their disintegration from the
parent rocks. On the basis of their source, following types of breccia
are commonly recognized: