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Understanding Sedimentary Rocks and Their Clues

Sedimentary rocks form from the deposition of sediments and contain clues about past environments. They are classified based on their composition, texture, and grain size. Sedimentary rocks contain information about the environment such as grain size, sorting, fossils, color, and bedding that indicate aspects like the energy of the depositional environment. Common sedimentary rocks include clastic rocks like sandstone, siltstone, and shale that are classified by grain size, as well as biochemical rocks like evaporites and biogenic limestone. Sedimentary rocks also provide fossil fuels like coal and petroleum.

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6 views29 pages

Understanding Sedimentary Rocks and Their Clues

Sedimentary rocks form from the deposition of sediments and contain clues about past environments. They are classified based on their composition, texture, and grain size. Sedimentary rocks contain information about the environment such as grain size, sorting, fossils, color, and bedding that indicate aspects like the energy of the depositional environment. Common sedimentary rocks include clastic rocks like sandstone, siltstone, and shale that are classified by grain size, as well as biochemical rocks like evaporites and biogenic limestone. Sedimentary rocks also provide fossil fuels like coal and petroleum.

Uploaded by

dkzlive
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Sedimentary Rocks

Deposited on or Near Surface of Earth by Mechanical or Chemical Processes

What Rocks Tell Us


Rock Type

Igneous

Sedimentary

How Classified Composition Texture Chemical Composition Grain Size Composition

Metamorphic

Mineral Makeup Texture

What it Tells Us Tectonic Setting Cooling History Surface Environment Energy of Environment Original Rock Type Temperature, Pressure Degree of Change

Sedimentary Rocks are the Principal Repository for Information About the Earths Past Environment

Environmental Clues in Sedimentary Rocks


Grain Size - Power of Transport Medium Grading - Often Due to Floods Rounding } Transport, Reworking Sorting Cross-bedding - Wind, Wave or Current Action

Environmental Clues in Sedimentary Rocks


Fossils
Salt Water - Corals, Echinoderms Fresh Water - Insects, Amphibians Terrestrial - Leaves, Land Animals

Color And Chemistry


Red Beds - Often Terrestrial Black Shale - Oxygen Poor, Often Deep Water Evaporites Arid Climates

Bedding or Stratification
Almost Always Present in Sedimentary Rocks Originally Horizontal Tilting by Earth Forces Later Variations in Conditions of Deposition Size of Beds (Thickness) Usually 1-100 Cm Can Range From Microscopic to 50m

Sedimentary Rocks
Clastic Rocks Made of Fragmentary Material Deposited by Water (Most Common) Wind Glacial Action Gravity Biochemical Sedimentary Rocks Evaporation Precipitation Biogenic Sediments

Clastic Rocks
Classified by: Grain Size Grain Composition Texture

Sediment Sizes and Clastic Rock Types


Rock Type
Shale Siltstone Sandstone

Sediment
Clay Silt Sand

Grain Size
less than 0.001 mm .001-0.1 mm .01-1 mm 1mm +

Conglomerate Gravel

Sedimentary rocks made of silt- and clay-sized particles are collectively called mudrocks, and are the most abundant sedimentary rocks.

Some Special Clastic Rock Types


Arkose Breccia Graywacke Feldspar-Rich Angular Fragments Angular, Immature Sandstone

Maturity
Stability of Minerals Rock Fragments Rounding or Angularity Sorting

Removal of Unstable Ingredients Mechanical Working

Diagenesis

Diagenesis
Compaction Cementing Quartz Calcite Iron Oxide Clay Glauconite Feldspar Alteration Limestone - Dolomite Plagioclase Albite Recrystallization Limestone

Chemical Sediments
Evaporites -Water Soluble Halite Gypsum Calcite Precipitates Example: Ca(sol'n) + SO4 (Sol'n) = CaSO4 Gypsum Limestone Iron Formations Alteration After Deposition Dolomite Biogenic Sediments Limestone - Shells, Reefs, Etc. Organic Remains Coal Petroleum

Fossil Fuels

Coal Seams, Utah

Coal
Delta, continental environments Carbonized Woody Material Often fossilized trees, leaves present

Plant Fragments Are Often Visible in Coal

Petroleum
A hydrocarbon molecule

What organisms make these? Answer: None

Petroleum
Lots of organisms make these, however

Fatty Acids Probable source: Marine plankton

Petroleum Traps

Facies Changes

Landforms Associated with Sedimentary Rocks


Mesa Flat-topped hill capped with hard rock Cuesta Gently-tilted layer of hard rock: Door Peninsula The gentle upper slope, on top of the layer is called the dip slope Hogback A sharp ridge of hard rock, edge of a steeplydipping layer

Mesas, Utah

Grandfather Bluff, Wisconsin

Cuestas, Wyoming

A Hogback, Wyoming

Flatirons, Boulder, Colorado

Garden of the Gods, Colorado

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