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7 Sedimentary Rocks
Classification
Dr. Ahmad A. Ramadhan

Classification of Sedimentary Rocks

 Sedimentary rocks usually originate in water
environments, either oceans, lakes, or river beds.

 Sedimentary rocks are grouped as;

1) Clastic
2) Chemical
3) Organic
 Clastic and chemical are the
most common and make up the
majority of sedimentary rocks
found on Earth’s surface.

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Three Classes of Sedimentary Rocks:

1.) Detrital sedimentary rocks

 Mechanical rock weathering by products are transported to
new location, cement together

2.) Chemical sedimentary rocks

 Soluble material, dissolved by chemical weathering,
precipitates by organic or inorganic processes

3.) Biochemical sedimentary rocks

 These rocks form as a result of once living organisms
accumulating to form solid rock.

1) Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

 Consist of solid particles from weathered rocks. These rock
fragments include pebbles, sand, silt and clay.

 Rock fragments are a result of physical weathering.

 These rocks usually form in water environments such as, rivers,

lakes, oceans, but can also form in deserts.

 Geologist use particle size to distinguish between clastic

sedimentary rocks, as seen in the table below.
Particle Sediment Rock Name
Name Name
Boulder Gravel (Round Conglomerate or
Pebble or Angular) Breccia

Sand Sand Sandstone

Silt / Clay Mud Siltstone/Shale

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This figure
shows how
clastic sediment
of various sizes
will, after
compaction and
cementation,
form different
types of
detrital
sedimentary
rocks.

The process of
sediment
turning into
rock is called
lithification.

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sediments

gravel sand silt clay

sedimentary
rocks

conglomerate sandstone siltstone shale

2) Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

 These rocks form as a result of chemical weathering
dissolving chemicals and transporting it in solution.
When conditions are right, these dissolved
chemicals change back into a solid through the
processes of precipitation and evaporation.
 Precipitation:
Process where chemicals dissolved on solution, fall
out of solution and forms a solid material. Most
common in shallow water environments.
 Evaporation:
Process where there is a change in state from a
liquid to a gas. Chemicals dissolved in the liquid
(water) are left behind as a solid material.

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2) Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

 Precipitation may occur as a result of physical
processes, or indirectly through life processes of
water-dwelling organisms. Sedimentary rock
formed in this way is referred to as Biochemical.

 Many organisms excrete dissolved minerals to form

shells and when they die the shells accumulate on
the sea floor and form a rock called Coquina.

 Note: Evaporation and Precipitation often work

together. As water evaporates, chemicals in solution
will precipitate. Example: Rock Salt (Halite)

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2) Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

 These rocks usually form in water environments
such as lakes and shallow seas or oceans.
 Some examples of chemical sedimentary rocks include;
1) Limestone (Calcite) - (form by precipitation)
2) Rock Gypsum - (form by precipitation and evaporation)
3) Rock salt (Halite) – (from by evaporation)
4) Coquina - (form by biochemical processes)

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3) Organic Sedimentary Rocks

 These rocks form as a result of once living material
accumulating to form solid rock.

 The most common organic rock is coal, which

forms when plant material in water saturated
environments (swamps) die and accumulate to
form peat. As peat is buried it compresses and
eventually changes to form coal.

Sedimentary
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rocks
 Organic sedimentary rocks

Coal
 buried and compacted plant material
 different kinds of coal, depending on formation process

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Stages of coal formation

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PEAT

LIGNITE

BITUMINOUS

ANTHRACITE

Sandstone
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Sandstone (sometimes known as arenite) is a clastic sedimentary rock composed

mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.

Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common
minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most
common colors are brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone
beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of
sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.

Quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure,

usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.

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 Sandstones are clastic in origin (as opposed to either organic, like chalk and coal,
or chemical, like gypsum and jasper).[1] They are formed from cemented grains that
may either be fragments of a pre-existing rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The
cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, and silica. Grain
sizes in sands are defined (in geology) within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm
(0.002–0.079 inches).

 The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages. First, a layer or layers of
sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a stream,
lake, or sea) or from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand
settling out from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of
a body of water or ground surface. Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand
becomes sandstone when it is compacted by the pressure of overlying deposits and
cemented by the precipitation of minerals within the pore spaces between sand
grains.

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The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are
often derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried.
Colours will usually be tan or yellow (from a blend of the clear quartz with the dark
amber feldspar content of the sand).
The environment where it is deposited is crucial in determining the characteristics of
the resulting sandstone, which, in finer detail, include its grain size, sorting,
and composition and, in more general detail, include the rock geometry and
sedimentary structures.
Principal environments of deposition may be split between terrestrial and marine, as
illustrated by the following broad groupings:
Terrestrial environments Rivers (levees, point bars, channel sands)
Alluvial fans, Glacial outwash, Lakes, Deserts .
Marine environments, Deltas, Beach and shore face sands, Tidal flats, Offshore bars
and sand waves, Storm deposits (tempested), Turbidites (submarine channels and fans)

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Sandstone Classification

More than 50 sandstone classification systems.

The classification schema that we use here was first proposed proposed by P.D. krynine
in the 1940’s and F.J. Pettijohn Pettijohn in the 1950”s and 1960’s.
It was later modified modified by R.H. Dott, Jr. in 1964. Sandstone Sand

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Classification of Sandstones
Most sandstone classifications are based on the composition of the rock.

Dott’s classificaton scheme is used in this lecture

It is based on the relative proportions of:

Martrix (fine-grained - <0.03mm - material that is associated with the sand grains).

Quartz

Feldspar

Rock fragments (sand grains that are made up crystals of two or more
different minerals).

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To classify sandstones using Dott’s scheme the first step is to determine

composition of the rock.

Point counting is a method whereby a

thin section on a petrographic
microscope is examined by stepping
across the thin section at equal intervals
and identifying the material (quartz,
feldspars, rock fragments or matrix) that
lies immediately beneath the cross hairs.
Counting 250 to 300 grains will
accurately yield the proportion of each
component.

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A first order classification is

Example Point Count Data: based on the proportion of
matrix that is present:
Component Number of Proportion
Grains counted (%)
Quartz 73 26 % matrix Rock Name
Feldspar 56 20
< 15 Arenite
Rock fragments 34 12
Matrix 118 42 Wacke or
15 - 75 Graywacke
Total: 281 100
>75 Mudstone

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Example Point Count Data:

A first order classification is
Component Number of Proportion based on the proportion of
Grains counted (%) matrix that is present:

Quartz 73 26 % matrix Rock Name

Feldspar 56 20
< 15 Arenite
Rock fragments 34 12
Matrix 118 42 15 - 75 Wacke or
Graywacke
Total: 281 100
>75 Mudstone

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To classify Arenites and Graywacke’s on the basis of their specific

compositions the data must be “normalized” to 100% quartz, feldspars
and rock fragments.
A. Total Rock A. Quartz, feldspars and rock fragments.

Component Proportion Component Proportion1

(%) (%)
Quartz 26 Quartz 45
Feldspar 20 Feldspar 34
Rock fragments 12 Rock fragments 21
Matrix 42 \ a graywacke
Total: 100
Total: 100
1Calculated as the proportion of each
Total Q, F, and Rf: 58 component in the total rock divided by the
total proportion of quartz, feldspars and
rock fragments (in this case that total is 58).

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The next step is to plot the

normalized data on a ternary
diagram to determine the specific
field in which the data fall.

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The next step is to plot the

normalized data on a ternary
diagram to determine the specific
field in which the data fall.

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If the proportion of matrix is less

than 15% plot the data and use
Dott’s diagram for the
classification of arenites.

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This classification is based on the major component of most sandstones

and provides a basis for a consistent nomenclature for sandstones.

The names can be modified to reflect other components of the rock:

e.g., Calcareous quartz arenite: a quartz arenite with a calcite cement.
Specific types of rock fragments may also be important in determining
the history of the sediment.

Fragments of limestone or dolomite are simply classed as “rock

fragments” using Dott’s scheme.

Such grains break down rapidly with transport so that their presence
suggests that the sediment was deposited very close to the area that it
was produced.

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I. Genetic Implications of Sandstone Composition

In addition to providing a basis for sandstone nomenclature, the

composition of a sandstone also indicates something of its history.

a) Maturity of a sandstone
Maturity refers to the cumulative changes that particles go through as it
is produced by weathering and is transported to a final site of
deposition.

Given that the source rocks for many sediments are pre-existing
sedimentary rocks, a very mature sediment may have been through the
rock cycle several times.

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Sedimentary rock

Argillite - a sedimentary rock composed primarily of clay-sized particles

Arkose - a sandstone with <25% feldspar crystals
Banded iron formation - a fine-grained chemical sedimentary rock composed of iron oxide minerals
Breccia - a sedimentary or tectonic rock composed of fragments of other, broken rocks
Calcarenite - a sedimentary rock composed of > 50% detrital carbonate grains
Chalk - a sedimentary rock composed primarily of coccolith fossils
Chert - a fine-grained chemical sedimentary rock composed of silica
Claystone - a sedimentary rock formed from clay
Coal - a sedimentary rock formed from organic matter
Conglomerate - a sedimentary rock composed of large rounded fragments of other rocks
Coquina - a sedimentary carbonate rock formed by accumulation of abundant shell fossils and fragments
Diamictite - a lithified sedimentary deposit with a wide range of grain sizes
Diatomite - sedimentary rock formed from diatom fossils
Dolomite or dolostone - a carbonate rock composed of the mineral dolomite +/- calcite
Evaporite - chemical sedimentary rock formed by accumulation of minerals after evaporation; varieties
include rock salt (halitite) and rock gypsum

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Flint - a form of chert
Geyserite - opaline silica deposit formed around hot springs and geysers
Greywacke - a type of sandstone with quartz, feldspar and rock fragments within a clay matrix
Gritstone - essentially a coarse sandstone formed from small pebbles
Itacolumite - porous, yellow-orange sandstone which is flexible if cut into thin strips
Jaspillite - an iron-rich chemical sedimentary rock similar to chert or banded iron formation
Laterite - residual sedimentary rock formed from a parent rock under tropical conditions
Lignite - sedimentary rock composed of 60%- 70% organic material; otherwise known as brown coal
Limestone - composed primarily of carbonate minerals
Marl - limestone with a considerable proportion of silicate material
Mudstone - clastic sedimentary rock that contains a mixture of silt- and clay-sized particles
Oil shale - sedimentary rock composed dominantly of organic material
Oolite - chemical sedimentary limestone formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers
Sandstone - clastic sedimentary rock defined by its grain size
Shale - clastic, fissile sedimentary rock defined by clay-sized particles
Siltstone - clastic sedimentary rock defined by 50% or greater silt-sized particles
Tillite - lithified glacial till
Travertine - sedimentary rock containing calcite and iron oxides
Tufa - porous limestone formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water
bodies
Turbidite - particular sequence of sedimentary rocks which form within the deep ocean environment
Wackestone - matrix-supported carbonate sedimentary rock.

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