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GLGY209 Lecture 10 Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are formed from the weathering of solid rock, with sediments transported by water, wind, and ice, and then lithified into rock. They constitute 7% of the Earth's crust but cover 75% of its surface, providing a historical record of the Earth's surface. The document discusses types of sediments, lithification processes, classifications of sedimentary rocks, and various sedimentary structures and environments.

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7 views44 pages

GLGY209 Lecture 10 Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are formed from the weathering of solid rock, with sediments transported by water, wind, and ice, and then lithified into rock. They constitute 7% of the Earth's crust but cover 75% of its surface, providing a historical record of the Earth's surface. The document discusses types of sediments, lithification processes, classifications of sedimentary rocks, and various sedimentary structures and environments.

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GLGY 209 Lecture 10

Sedimentary Rocks

- the result of weathering of solid rock is the production of sediment


- sediments are transported by water, wind, & ice. They are
deposited and lithified into sedimentary rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks

• Importance of sedimentary rocks


• What are sediments?
• How are they formed?
• How do they become rock?
• Clastics
• Carbonates
• Evaporites
• Sedimentary structures
• Sedimentary environments
Sedimentary Rocks
- constitute only 7 % of the Earth’s crust by volume

-cover approximately 75 % of the Earth’s surface

… are important because they contain a record of


the history of the Earth’s surface…
Weathering Transport Deposition Lithification

Transport of loose sediment

- by wind, water, glacial ice

- coarsest particles closest to source area

- finest particles travel farthest


Weathering Transport Deposition Lithification

- greater the distance of transport, the smoother or


more rounded grains become
Weathering Transport Deposition Lithification

Types of Sediments:

1. Clastic Sediments: derived from weathering


of rocks, transported by wind, water, or ice,
and deposited in layers on the Earth’s surface.

2. Biochemical Sediments: precipitated directly


by the activities of organisms.

3. Chemical Sediments: precipitated directly from water.


Weathering Transport Deposition Lithification

Lithification is the conversion of sediment into rock.


The following processes may be involved:

Compaction: reduction in volume of sediments resulting


from weight of newly deposited sediments above.

Cementation: a process by which precipitates bind


together the grains of a sediment, converting it into
a sedimentary rock.
The combination of cementation and compaction during
burial causes hardening or “lithification” of the rock.

[Web Geology – Clastic Sed rocks – diagenesis and lithification]


Sedimentary Rock
Classification

Clastic Biochemical Chemical

Breccia Carbonate Evaporite


e.g. Limestone e.g. Halite
Conglomerate e.g. Gypsum
Chalk
Sandstone Banded iron
Chert formation
Shale
Coal
CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
- fragments of weathered rocks

CLASTIC = DETRITAL
- classified by size of particles (Wentworth Scale)

Grain Diameter Rock Name


>2 mm breccia (angular)
conglomerate (rounded)

1-2 mm sandstone

<<2 mm siltstone, shale, mudstone


CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Grain Diameter Rock Name
>2 mm breccia or conglomerate

ANGULAR ROUNDED
(breccia) (conglomerate)
High or low energy environment?
CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Grain Diameter Rock Name
1-2 mm sandstone

sandstone quartz sandstone

High or low energy environment?


CLASTIC SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Grain Diameter Rock Name
<<2 mm siltstone, shale, mudstone

shale is fissile (breaks in layers)

High or low energy environment?


Burgess Shale, Yoho National Park – platy, fine-grained rock
- splits along bedding planes
CLASTIC ENVIRONMENTS
BIOCHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

CARBONATES: 1. LIMESTONE (made of calcite)


2. DOLOSTONE (made of dolomite)

Upper Ordovician Tyndall Limestone


Biochemical Rocks: Carbonates
LIMESTONE ( CaCO3):
- consolidated product of carbonate sand, mud, and shells
- The primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly
marine organisms. These organisms secrete shells that settle out of
the water column and are deposited on ocean floors as carbonate
ooze
- reefs and open ocean
CARBONATE ENVIRONMENTS

-shallow, warm, clear water


Carbonate Reefs
A reef complex on a carbonate shelf or platform
tidal flats - lagoon - back reef - reef core - fore reef

-carbonate reefs are an important setting for deposition


of LIMESTONES
Where do coral reefs occur?

Corals need: clear, warm, shallow water


Most modern coral reefs occur between 30 degrees N and S
of the equator.
Biochemical Rocks
CHALK:
- consists of shells of billions of microscopic calcareous
organisms
Biochemical Rocks
CHERT (aka flint):
- small particles of silica, often from shells of
microscopic
organisms

-so chert is NOT


a carbonate, it
is made of silica!
Biochemical Rocks
COAL:
-consists of the compressed, altered remains of vegetation

Lithification proceeds via:


peat, lignite, coal, anthracite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite_coal
Coal Formation
Coal
- coal has different
ranks based on its
formation

- hard coals
(anthracite), which
have been subjected
to higher
temperatures and
pressures, burn more
cleanly than soft
coals (lignite)
CHEMICAL ROCKS: EVAPORITES
- precipitated under hot, dry conditions
- evaporation increases the salinity of the water

HALITE (rock salt) GYPSUM


NaCl CaSO4·2H2O
CHEMICAL ROCKS: EVAPORITES

Primary halite; southern part of the Dead Sea (Israel).


Salt pan in Utah – very dry, high evaporation rates
- as water evaporates, thick salt
deposits left behind
DEATH VALLEY
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
LAYERS = BEDS/STRATA

BEDDING PLANE
Bedding plane: pause in deposition, change in
environmental conditions
Review: Sedimentary Bedding
Principle of original horizontality
-most water-laid sediments are deposited in horizontal
or nearly horizontal layers

Principle of superposition
- oldest layers are at the bottom and younger layers are
deposited on top
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
GRADED BEDDING

“way up”

- changing energy fining up


Sedimentary Structures

Graded
bedding!
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
CROSS-BEDDING
Navajo Sandstone truncated
(top)

“way up”

- water or wind
- indicates flow direction
Formation of CROSS-BEDDING
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
RIPPLE MARKS
- wind or water currents
1. SYMMETRICAL

“way up”

2. ASYMMETRICAL

http://www.d.umn.edu/~pmorton/geol2300/classnotes/environmentsofdeposition.doc
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
MUD CRACKS

“way up”

TOP

- fine sediment dries and shrinks


POP QUIZ

1. What are 3 agents that can transport sediment?

2. Name 4 sedimentary structures.

3. How does coal form?

4. What is a conglomerate?

5. What does the term “fissile” mean?

6. What is the difference between chalk and chert?


Depositional Environments:
remember uniformitarianism?
SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS
Deep Ocean (>200 m water depth)
- very fine grained (clay, oozes)

Shallow Ocean (<200 m water depth)


- carbonates in warm water, evaporites

Transitional (e.g. beaches, lagoons)


- clastics or carbonates
- sedimentary structures

Terrestrial (e.g. rivers, lakes, deserts, glaciers)


- clastics (coarse to fine-grained)
- sedimentary structures
Sedimentary
Environments: Continental Shelves

- margins of continents after rifting


- deposition of clastic sediment from continental rivers
- if arid and warm enough, may have carbonate shelf on continental
margin
Sedimentary Environments: Abyssal Plains

- in the open ocean, a blanket of sediment covers the


igneous rocks of the oceanic crust
- sediment made of silica-based and carbonate shells of
small organisms as well as wind-derived clay from
continents
Sedimentary Environments: Rift Valleys

- rifting creates a topographic gradient


- erosion of highlands into newly formed valley results in
layers of sediment deposited in the rift valley
Sedimentary Environments: Backarc Basin

BACKARC BASIN

- uplift
of mountain belt causes enhanced erosion of
highlands and deposition of sediments

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