Sedimentary
Rocks
Table of contents
01
Sedimentary
02
Formation of
03
Types of
Rocks Sediments Sedimentary
Rocks
04
Importance of
05
Exercises
Sedimentary
Rocks
01
Sedimentary Rocks
Some definitions you need to know:-
Sediment: Solid fragments or
particles transported and deposited
by wind, water, or ice.
Bedrock: Solid rock that is
connected continuously down into
Earth’s crust, rather than existing
as separate pieces or masses
Some definitions you need to know:-
Sedimentary Rock: a rock, usually
layered, that results from the
consolidation or lithification of
sediment, for example, a clastic
rock, such as sandstone, a
chemical rock, such as rock salt, or
an organic rock, such as coal.
Earth's surface
75%
Sedimentary
rocks
Three-fourths of the
earth’s crust is
sedimentary rocks
Introduction
Sedimentary rocks, made of sediment,
cover about three-fourths of Earth’s land
surface.
Except for a thin layer of soil and very young sediments at
Earth’s surface, Earth’s crust is made of solid bedrock.
Sediments are loose materials that have not been formed into
rocks. The crust consists of a vast range of rock types.
However, sedimentary rocks are by far the most common type
in the upper crust. If you could somehow remove the thin layer
of soil and sediment from the top of the crust and look at the
exposed bedrock, about three-fourths of it would be
sedimentary rock. Over large areas of the continents,
sedimentary rocks form layers, called strata.
Sedimentary rocks
Mudstone Conglomerate
Limestone Sandstone
02
Sediments
Some definitions you need to know:-
compaction: the reduction in bulk
volume or thickness of fine-grained
sediments due to the increasing
weight of overlying material that is
continually being deposited.
cementation: the process by which
sediments are converted into rock
How are sediments formed?
Sediments are deposited for a long time. They become buried
deep below the Earth’s surface. The pressure on the sediment
increases. As a result, the particles are pressed together.
This process is called compaction. Water solutions from deep
in Earth can filter up through the pore spaces of the sediment.
Materials precipitate from these solutions. They are deposited
around the sediment particles.
The material acts like cement and the process is called
cementation. Compaction and cementation cause the
sediment to turn into a solid sedimentary rock.
Sedimentary formation
Compaction
Pressure on the sediment
increases and its particles are
pressed together
Cementation
Materials from water solutions
precipitate inside the sediment and
act as cement that sticks the
sediment together.
03
Types of Sedimentary
Rocks
Some definitions you need to know:-
Clastic Sedimentary Rock: a
sedimentary rock made up mostly
of fragments derived from
preexisting rocks and transported
mechanically to their places of
deposition.
clast: an individual fragment of
Some definitions you need to know:-
precipitation: the process of
forming solid mineral constituents
from a solution by evaporation.
chemical sedimentary rock: a
sedimentary rock formed by direct
chemical precipitation of minerals
from a solution.
Sedimentary rocks diagram
Sedimentary Rocks
Clastic Organic
Chemical
Sedimentary rocks
Rock type Description
Fragments of rocks and minerals that have been
Clastic physically transported and deposited and then
converted into rock.
Remains of plants and animals that have been
Organic converted into rock.
Direct precipitation of minerals from a solution
Chemical
Clastic Sedimentary Rocks
• They are formed from compacted and cemented sediments.
• Generally classified according to their sizes.
• They are made of fragments called clasts.
• Conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, claystone and shale are clastic
sedimentary rocks.
• The smallest clasts are too small to see without a microscope. And they are
called clay.
• Clasts with sizes between clay and sand are called silt.
• Claystone consists of clay-sized particles.
Clastic Sedimentary Rocks
• Siltstone consists of silt-sized particles.
• Mudstone consists of a mixture of silt-sized and clay-sized particles.
• Sandstone is made of sand-sized particles.
• Conglomerate is made of gravel-sized particles.
• The size of gravel-sized particles ranges from small pebbles to large boulders.
• The particle size usually reflects the strength of the medium that carried the
sediment.
Siltstone
Claystone
Mudstone
Sandstone Conglomerate
Chemical Sedimentary Rocks
• Sometimes, water cannot hold all of the material that is dissolved in it.
• When this occurs, some of the material comes out of the solution as solids. This
process is called precipitation.
• It can happen when some or all of the water evaporates. It can also happen
when the water is cooled.
• Chemical sedimentary rocks consist of materials that have precipitated from
ocean water or lake water.
• Examples of these rocks are: Limestone, Dolomite, Gypsum, Halite.
• They are also called rock salt.
Dolomite
Limestone
Gypsum Halite
Organic Sedimentary Rocks
• Organic sedimentary rocks are made of organic materials.
• Coal is the best example.
• Coal forms when plants in swamps with a lot of vegetation die and are buried
by the remains of later plants.
• The plant material becomes compacted.
• Over time, the weight of overlying sediment turns the vegetation into rock.
• The first material to form is called peat.
• It has not yet been buried deeply. Peat is used by humans for fuel and for
agriculture.
Coal comes from
trees
Organic Sedimentary Rocks
• With time and greater compaction, peat is converted to lignite (“brown coal”).
• With further compaction, bituminous coal (“soft coal”) forms.
• Approximately 35 m of original plant matter is compacted to form 30 cm of
bituminous coal.
• The most deeply buried coal is called anthracite (“hard coal”).
Coquina Limestone
Coal
Diatomite
The rock cycle timeline
Sedimentary
H
rocks ea
ta
g
e rin nd
th pr
es
ea su
W re
Heat and pressure Metamorphic
Igneous rocks rocks
Melting lava
04
Importance of
sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary environments
• Sedimentary rocks are formed from sediments deposited at Earth’s surface in
various places.
• For example, limestone is usually deposited in a shallow ocean.
• Sandstone can also be deposited in a shallow ocean.
• However, it can form in a beach, desert, or river as well.
• Coal is usually formed in swamps.
• A sedimentary rock can therefore tell you something about the environment in
the past.
Sedimentary Rocks and Climate
• Sedimentary rocks can tell you about past climates.
• For example, sandstone deposited as desert sand dunes records when the area
was dry.
• Protective vegetation would have been lacking.
• Limestones suggest deposition in warm, shallow oceans.
• Coal forms in tropical to subtropical climates.
Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils
• Sedimentary rocks are the only type of rocks that may contain fossils, or
evidence of past life.
• If you see a rock with a fossil in it, it must be a sedimentary rock.
• Because the processes required to form igneous and metamorphic rocks
require a lot of pressure and heat and that would destroy fossils.
05
Exercises
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Order the rocks by class
Classify each of the following rocks in the right column
Limestone Halite Diatomite Conglomerate
Dolomite Coal Shale Gray sandstone
Clastic rocks Chemical rocks Organic rocks
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