ENGINEERING

GEOLOGY
SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS
Rock Cycle
What is a Sedimentary Rock?
 The word sedimentary comes from the Latin word
sedimentum, which means “settling”
 Sedimentary rocks are products of mechanical and
chemical weathering
 They account for about 5 percent (by volume) of Earth’s
outer* 10 miles
 Contain evidence of past environments
 Provide information about sediment transport

 Often contain fossils

 For more information:

 https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-sedimentary-rocks
-0?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_pro
ducts

 https://geology.com/rocks/sedimentary-rocks.shtml
 https://www.eartheclipse.com/geology/formation-types-
and-examples-of-sedimentary-rocks.html
What is a Sedimentary Rock?
Turning sediments into a rock?
 Diagenesis: Refers to processes that lithify
sediments or make them into a solid
sedimentary rock. It may occur at or very
near surface, but more commonly occurs
after sediments are buried.
 So, sedimentary rocks are produced from
previous rocks that are relentlessly
weathered or eroded and then deposited
where they undergo compaction and
cementation through a process known as
lithification- changing of sediments into a
rock
 For more information:
https://www.eartheclipse.com/geology/basi
c-types-of-rocks.html
 Weathering, Erosion and Deposition
 Weathering: The disintegration and decomposition
of rock at or near Earth’s surface.
 Erosion: The incorporation and transportation of
material by a mobile agent, such as water, wind, or
ice.
 Deposition: The process by which an agent of
erosion loses energy and drops the sediment it is
carrying.
 Cementation (oxides, carbonates, and silica) is the
gluing of the rock pieces together either by salt
compounds or organic matter.
 For more information:
https://sciencing.com/difference-between-weathering
-erosion-8212886.html
 D ia g e n e s is

W e a t h e r in g a n d E r o s io n o f p r e -e x is t in g r o c k s a n d m in e r a l s

T r a n s p o r t a t io n
by
W a t e r , ic e , o r w in d

D e p o s it io n
( S e d im e n t is l a id d o w n )

C o m p a c t io n

C e m e n t a t io n
b y s il ic a o r c a l c it e

– development of more
stable minerals from less R e c r y s t a l l iz a t io n
stable ones
L it h if ic a t io n
Texture of Sedimentary Rocks
•Origin of grains- mechanical origin: coarse
grain, chemical origin: fine grain

• Size of grains- type of weathering,

nature of parent rock, duration of
transportation

• Shape of grains- round, angular, smooth

• Packing of grains- loosely packed,

densely packed
 SORTING, SHAPE, SETTING

Sorting

Sphericity
Rounding

Depositional
Setting
 Classification of Sedimentary
Rocks
 Two major textures are used in the
classification of sedimentary rocks
 Clastic

Discrete fragments and particles

All detrital rocks have a clastic texture
 Nonclastic

Pattern of interlocking crystals

May resemble an igneous rock
CLASTIC ROCKS
 Made of cemented sediments—are
classified by their grain sizes.

CONGLOMERATE
SANDSTONE
SHALE
CONGLOMERATE (WELDED
TUFF)
NON-CLASTIC ROCKS
 Classified by their mode of formation from
chemical or biochemical precipitation

HALITE
LIMESTONE
GYPSUM
CHALK
ORGANIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 Made of the remains of
organic matter
 The most important of
these is coal. Anthracite
coal results from the
greatest pressure and
releases the most energy
when burned. Other
varieties are bituminous
and lignite.
COAL
CLASSIFICATION OF
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 Sedimentary rocks are classified according to
the type of material they are formed
 Divided into two major groups:
 Detrital

 Chemical
 CLASSIFICATION OF
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Classified into two groups according to the way of
formation.
 Detrital Sedimentary Rocks:
o Made of broken fragments of pre-existing rocks
o Made of clay minerals and quartz
o Grouped according to size of sediments in the
rocks or clastic rocks
o Examples: Conglomerate, Sandstone, Shale
 Chemical Sedimentary Rocks:
o Consisting of material that was precipitated from
water by either inorganic or organic means.
o Examples: Limestone, rock salt, chert, flint, and
rock gypsum.
o About 90% of limestones are formed from
biochemical sediments (shells/skeletons).
IDENTIFICATION OF
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 Sediments

Sedimentary
Rocks

conglomerate sandstone siltstone shale

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Detrital sedimentary rocks
 Shale & siltstone

o silt & clay-sized particles (mud, clay, silt)

o over 1/2 of all sedimentary rocks
o particles too small to identify with eye
o deposited in quiet (slow moving) water
- deep ocean & continental slope
- lakes
- floodplains (siltstone)
o raw material for brick, tile, pottery, china
SHALE CONTAINING PLANT
REMAINS
DETRITAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Sandstone
 composed of sand grains
 2nd most abundant sedimentary rock
 deposited by moderate currents:
o rivers & deltas
o beaches
o wind (sand dunes)
 mostly quartz & Feldspars(strong &
chemically stable)
DETRITAL SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS
Conglomerate
 composed mostly of gravel
o pebbles to boulders
 poorly sorted
 deposited by strong, turbulent
currents:
o big flooding rivers
o steep streams (near mountains)
o glaciers
DETRITAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Breccia
 conglomerate with angular
grains
 didn’t travel far
CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS
 Limestone
 Dolostone
 Chert
 Evaporites
 Coal
 LIMESTONE Fossiliferous Limestone
 Most abundant chemical
rock

 Composed of calcite
carbonate CaCO3

 Marine biochemical
limestones form as coral
reefs, coquina (broken Coquina
shells), and chalk
(microscopic organisms)

 Inorganic limestones include

travertine and oolitic
limestone
SEDIMENTARY ROCK
 Chemical sedimentary rock
 Organic rock of biochemical origin

Coquina (rock of shell fragments)

CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS
 Dolostone
 Composed of calcite, magnesium carbonate
Ca,MgCO3
 Typically formed secondarily from limestone
 Chert
 Made of microcrystalline quartz

Banded Chert
 CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY
ROCKS
 Evaporites
 Evaporation triggers deposition of chemical
precipitates. water evaporates and dissolved
material is deposited
 Examples include rock salt and rock gypsum

Salt flats, Utah Death Valley, Calif.

CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY
ROCK
Coal
 buried and compacted plant material
 different kinds of coal, depending on
formation process
Sedimentary structures (Physical
features)
1. Layers (bedding, or “strata”)
 deposited horizontally
Sedimentary structures (Physical
features)
1. Layers (bedding, or “strata”)
 deposited horizontally
 each layer is unique
Sedimentary structures (Physical
features)
1. Layers (bedding, or “strata”)
 deposited horizontally
 each layer is unique
 separated by bedding planes
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)
2. Cross-bedding
 tilted bedding
Sedimentary structures (Physical
features)
2. Cross-bedding
 tilted bedding
 commonly ancient sand dunes
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

2. Cross-bedding
 tilted bedding
 commonly ancient sand dunes
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)
3. Graded Beds
 Particles within a layer gradually
changes
• Coarse at bottom
• Fine at top
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)
3. Graded beds
• particles within a layer
• gradually change:
• coarse at bottom
• fine at top
• rapid deposition from
• water varying sed. sizes

Colorado River
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

4. Ripple marks
 wavy surfaces to sand: current ripple marks
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

4. Ripple marks
 wavy surfaces to sand: current ripple
marks
 tell direction of current
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

4. Ripple marks
 wavy surfaces to sand:
current ripple marks
 tell direction of current
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

4. Ripple marks
 wavy surfaces to sand: current
ripple marks
 tell direction of current
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)
• 5. Mud cracks
 sediment alternatively
 wet/dry
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
(PHYSICAL FEATURES)

5. Mud cracks
 sediment alternatively
 wet/dry
 shallow lakes,
 desert basins