A report on Sedimentary rock

Middle Triassic marginal marine sequence of siltstones (reddish layers at the cliff base) and limestones (brown rocks above), Virgin Formation, southwestern Utah, U.S.

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is a large sandstone formation in Northern Territory, Australia.

Claystone deposited in Glacial Lake Missoula, Montana, United States. Note the very fine and flat bedding, common for deposits coming from lake beds further away from the source of sediment.

Sedimentary rock with sandstone in Malta

Lower Antelope Canyon was carved out of the surrounding sandstone by both mechanical weathering and chemical weathering. Wind, sand, and water from flash flooding are the primary weathering agents.

Outcrop of Ordovician oil shale (kukersite), northern Estonia

Fossils of Nerinea marine gastropods of Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) age, in limestone in Lebanon

Cross-bedding and scour in a fine sandstone; the Logan Formation (Mississippian) of Jackson County, Ohio

Pressure solution at work in a clastic rock. While material dissolves at places where grains are in contact, that material may recrystallize from the solution and act as cement in open pore spaces. As a result, there is a net flow of material from areas under high stress to those under low stress, producing a sedimentary rock that is harder and more compact. Loose sand can become sandstone in this way.

A piece of a banded iron formation, a type of rock that consists of alternating layers with iron(III) oxide (red) and iron(II) oxide (grey). BIFs were mostly formed during the Precambrian, when the atmosphere was not yet rich in oxygen. Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Diagram showing well-sorted (left) and poorly sorted (right) grains

Diagram showing the rounding and sphericity of grains

Global collage of sand samples. There is one square centimeter of sand on every sample photo. Sand samples row by row from left to right: 1. Glass sand from Kauai, Hawaii 2. Dune sand from the Gobi Desert 3. Quartz sand with green glauconite from Estonia 4. Volcanic sand with reddish weathered basalt from Maui, Hawaii 5. Biogenic coral sand from Molokai, Hawaii 6. Coral pink sand dunes from Utah 7. Volcanic glass sand from California 8. Garnet sand from Emerald Creek, Idaho 9. Olivine sand from Papakolea, Hawaii.

Fossil-rich layers in a sedimentary rock, Año Nuevo State Reserve, California

Burrows in a turbidite, made by crustaceans, San Vincente Formation (early Eocene) of the Ainsa Basin, southern foreland of the Pyrenees

Cross-bedding in a fluviatile sandstone, Middle Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) on Bressay, Shetland Islands

Flute casts, a type of sole marking on the base of a vertical layer of Triassic sandstone in Spain

Ripple marks formed by a current in a sandstone that was later tilted (Haßberge, Bavaria)

Halite crystal mold in dolomite, Paadla Formation (Silurian), Saaremaa, Estonia

Chert concretions in chalk, Middle Lefkara Formation (upper Paleocene to middle Eocene), Cyprus

Common types of depositional environments

The swirls of tan, green, blue, and white are sediment in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan Peninsula. The blue-green cloud in this image roughly matches the extent of the shallow continental shelf west of the peninsula. This is a perfect example of a shallow marine depositional environment.

Shifting sedimentary facies in the case of transgression (above) and regression of the sea (below)

Plate tectonics diagram showing convergence of an oceanic plate and a continental plate. Note the back-arc basin, forearc basin, and oceanic basin.

Cyclic alternation of competent and less competent beds in the Blue Lias at Lyme Regis, southern England

The Permian through Jurassic stratigraphy of the Colorado Plateau area of southeastern Utah that makes up much of the famous prominent rock formations in protected areas such as Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park. From top to bottom: Rounded tan domes of the Navajo Sandstone, layered red Kayenta Formation, cliff-forming, vertically jointed, red Wingate Sandstone, slope-forming, purplish Chinle Formation, layered, lighter-red Moenkopi Formation, and white, layered Cutler Formation sandstone. Picture from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah.

Sedimentary rocks on Mars, investigated by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover

Steeply dipping sedimentary rock strata along the Chalous Road in northern Iran

Stratified remains of Puʻu Mahana cinder cone.

A regressive facies shown on a stratigraphic column

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation.

- Sedimentary rock

101 related topics with Alpha

Limestone

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This limestone deposit in the karst of Dinaric Alps near Sinj, Croatia was formed in the Eocene.

Ooids from a beach on Joulter's Cay, The Bahamas

Ooids in limestone of the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southwestern Utah.

Thin-section view of a Middle Jurassic limestone in southern Utah, U.S. The round grains are ooids; the largest is 1.2 mm in diameter. This limestone is an oosparite.

The White Cliffs of Dover are composed of chalk.

Travertine limestone terraces of Pamukkale, Turkey.

Cave limestone formations in the Luray Caverns of the northern Shenandoah Valley

An aerial view of a whiting event precipitation cloud in Lake Ontario.

Akcakoca chert nodules within soft limestone

Mønsted is the largest limestone mine in the world.

Coral reef at Nusa Lembongan, Bali, Indonesia

The Cudgel of Hercules, a tall limestone rock in Poland (Pieskowa Skała Castle in the background)

The Samulá cenote in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico

La Zaplaz formations in the Piatra Craiului Mountains, Romania.

The Megalithic Temples of Malta such as Ħaġar Qim are built entirely of limestone. They are among the oldest freestanding structures in existence.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World had an outside cover made entirely from limestone.

A limestone plate with a negative map of Moosburg in Bavaria is prepared for a lithography print.

Plastic bag "made mainly from limestone"

Limestone quarry at Cedar Creek, Virginia, USA

Nordkalk's limestone quarry in Pargas, Finland

Cutting limestone blocks at a quarry in Gozo, Malta

Limestone is used worldwide as building material.

A stratigraphic section of Ordovician limestone exposed in central Tennessee, U.S. The less-resistant and thinner beds are composed of shale. The vertical lines are drill holes for explosives used during road construction.

Photo and etched section of a sample of fossiliferous limestone from the Kope Formation (Upper Ordovician) near Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

Biosparite limestone of the Brassfield Formation (Lower Silurian) near Fairborn, Ohio, U.S., showing grains mainly composed of crinoid fragments

A concretionary nodular (septarian) limestone at Jinshitan Coastal National Geopark, Dalian, China

Limestone from Lake Tai, used in gongshi, a Chinese stone art

Folded limestone layers on Cascade Mountain in Provo Canyon, Utah

Fossils in limestone from the northern Black Sea region

Limestone distribution in Ohio, from "Geography of Ohio," 1923

Chalk is a variety of limestone. It is a softer, and more powdery material.

Limestone is a common type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime.

Shale

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Sample of drill cuttings of shale while drilling an oil well in Louisiana, United States. Sand grain = 2 mm in diameter

Color chart for shale based on oxidation state and organic carbon content

Shale in Potokgraben, the Karawanks, Austria

Splitting shale (Messel oil shale) with a large knife to reveal fossils

Weathering shale at a road cut in southeastern Kentucky

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite.

The Grand Canyon is an incision through layers of sedimentary rocks.

Rock (geology)

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Any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter.

A balancing rock called Kummakivi (literally "strange stone")

Rock outcrop along a mountain creek near Orosí, Costa Rica.

Sedimentary sandstone with iron oxide bands

Ceremonial cairn of rocks, an ovoo, from Mongolia

A stonehouse on the hill in Sastamala, Finland

Rocks are usually grouped into three main groups: igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks.

Metamorphic rock

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Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism.

A metamorphic rock, deformed during the Variscan orogeny, at Vall de Cardós, Lérida, Spain

Metamorphic rock containing staurolite and almandine garnet

A mylonite (through a petrographic microscope)

Folded foliation in a metamorphic rock from near Geirangerfjord, Norway

Mississippian marble in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Utah.

A contact metamorphic rock made of interlayered calcite and serpentine from the Precambrian of Canada. Once thought to be a pseudofossil called Eozoön canadense. Scale in mm.

Amphibolite formed by metamorphosis of basalt

The protolith may be an igneous, sedimentary, or existing metamorphic rock.

Chert

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Chert (dark bands) in the Devonian Corriganville-New Creek limestone, Everett, Pennsylvania

An erosion resistant layer of chert in the Eocene Ping Chau Formation, Hong Kong

Mill Creek chert from the Parkin Site in Arkansas

Chert is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2).

Sandstone

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Clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized silicate grains.

Grus sand and the granitoid from which it is derived

Photomicrograph of a volcanic sand grain; upper picture is plane-polarised light, bottom picture is cross-polarised light, scale box at left-centre is 0.25 millimeter. This type of grain would be a main component of a lithic sandstone.

Schematic QFL diagram showing tectonic provinces

Cross-bedding and scour in sandstone of the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of Jackson County, Ohio

Red sandstone interior of Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, worn smooth by erosion from flash flooding over thousands of years

The Main Quadrangle of the University of Sydney, a so-called sandstone university

Sandstone statue Maria Immaculata by Fidelis Sporer, around 1770, in Freiburg, Germany

17,000 yr old sandstone oil lamp discovered at the caves of Lascaux, France

Kokh-type tombs cut into the multicoloured sandstone of Petra

Sand grains of quartz with hematite coating providing an orange colour

Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.

Volcanic eruptions of lava are major sources of igneous rocks. (Mayon volcano in the Philippines, erupting in 2009)

$Basic classification scheme for igneous rocks based on their mineral composition. If the approximate volume fractions of minerals in the rock are known, the rock name and silica content can be read off the diagram. This is not an exact method, because the classification of igneous rocks also depends on other components, yet in most cases it is a good first guess.$

Total alkali versus silica classification scheme (TAS) as proposed in Le Maitre's 2002 Igneous Rocks – A classification and glossary of terms Blue area is roughly where alkaline rocks plot; yellow area is where subalkaline rocks plot.

AFM ternary diagram showing the relative proportions of Na2O + K2O (A for Alkali earth metals), FeO + Fe2O3 (F), and MgO (M) with arrows showing the path of chemical variation in tholeiitic and calc-alkaline series magmas

$Schematic diagrams showing the principles behind fractional crystallisation in a magma. While cooling, the magma evolves in composition because different minerals crystallize from the melt. 1: olivine crystallizes; 2: olivine and pyroxene crystallize; 3: pyroxene and plagioclase crystallize; 4: plagioclase crystallizes. At the bottom of the magma reservoir, a cumulate rock forms.$

Kanaga volcano in the Aleutian Islands with a 1906 lava flow in the foreground

A "skylight" hole, about {{cvt|6|m}} across, in a solidified lava crust reveals molten lava below (flowing towards the top right) in an eruption of Kīlauea in Hawaii

Devils Tower, an eroded laccolith in the Black Hills of Wyoming

A cascade of molten lava flowing into Aloi Crater during the 1969-1971 Mauna Ulu eruption of Kilauea volcano

Columnar jointing in the Alcantara Gorge, Sicily

A laccolith of granite (light-coloured) that was intruded into older sedimentary rocks (dark-coloured) at Cuernos del Paine, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

An igneous intrusion cut by a pegmatite dike, which in turn is cut by a dolerite dike

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.

Sediment

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Naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles.

Schematic representation of difference in grain shape. Two parameters are shown: sphericity (vertical) and rounding (horizontal).

Comparison chart for evaluating roundness of sediment grains

Sediment builds up on human-made breakwaters because they reduce the speed of water flow, so the stream cannot carry as much sediment load.

Glacial transport of boulders. These boulders will be deposited as the glacier retreats.

Modern asymmetric ripples developed in sand on the floor of the Hunter River, New South Wales, Australia. Flow direction is from right to left.

Sinuous-crested dunes exposed at low tide in the Cornwallis River near Wolfville, Nova Scotia

Ancient channel deposit in the Stellarton Formation (Pennsylvanian), Coalburn Pit, near Thorburn, Nova Scotia.

Holocene eolianite and a carbonate beach on Long Island, Bahamas

For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation; if buried, they may eventually become sandstone and siltstone (sedimentary rocks) through lithification.

Feldspar

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Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, containing sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium.

Compositional phase diagram of the different minerals that constitute the feldspar solid solution.

Diagram showing part of a crankshaft chain of feldspar

Feldspar crystal structure viewed along the c axis

Feldspar crystal structure viewed along the a axis

Feldspar crystal structure viewed along the b axis

Specimen of rare plumbian (lead-rich) feldspar

Perched on crystallized, white feldspar is an upright 4 cm aquamarine crystal

Feldspar and moonstone, from Sonora, Mexico

Schorl crystal on a cluster of euhedral feldspar crystals

$First X-ray view of Martian soil—feldspar, pyroxenes, olivine revealed (Curiosity rover at "Rocknest", October 17, 2012).<ref name="NASA-20121030">{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Dwayne |title=NASA Rover's First Soil Studies Help Fingerprint Martian Minerals |url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/oct/HQ_12-383_Curiosity_CheMin.html |date=October 30, 2012 |publisher=NASA |access-date=October 31, 2012}}</ref>$

Lunar ferrous anorthosite #60025 (plagioclase feldspar). Collected by Apollo 16 from the Lunar Highlands near Descartes Crater. This sample is currently on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Feldspars are also found in many types of sedimentary rocks.

A natural arch produced by erosion of differentially weathered rock in Jebel Kharaz (Jordan)

Weathering

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Deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms.

$A rock in Abisko, Sweden fractured along existing joints possibly by frost weathering or thermal stress$

Exfoliated granite sheets in Texas, possibly caused by pressure release

Tafoni at Salt Point State Park, Sonoma County, California

Comparison of unweathered (left) and weathered (right) limestone

Limestone core samples at different stages of chemical weathering (due to tropical rain and underground water), from very high at shallow depths (bottom) to very low at greater depths (top). Slightly weathered limestone shows brownish stains, while highly weathered limestone loses much of its carbonate mineral content, leaving behind clay. Underground limestone from the carbonate West Congolian deposit in Kimpese, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Olivine weathering to iddingsite within a mantle xenolith

A pyrite cube has dissolved away from host rock, leaving gold particles behind.

A freshly broken rock shows differential chemical weathering (probably mostly oxidation) progressing inward. This piece of sandstone was found in glacial drift near Angelica, New York.

Biological weathering of basalt by lichen, La Palma

Salt weathering of building stone on the island of Gozo, Malta

Salt weathering of sandstone near Qobustan, Azerbaijan

Permian sandstone wall near Sedona, Arizona, United States, weathered into a small alcove

Weathering on a sandstone pillar in Bayreuth

Weathering effect of acid rain on statues

Weathering effect on a sandstone statue in Dresden, Germany

Weathering is a crucial part of the rock cycle, and sedimentary rock, formed from the weathering products of older rock, covers 66% of the Earth's continents and much of its ocean floor.