Rock types

Minerals
Sand types
Field geology
All posts
Rocks pictures
Contact
About
Sandatlas
MENU
ROCK TYPES
MINERALS
SAND TYPES
FIELD GEOLOGY
GLOSSARY
ALL POSTS
ROCKS PICTURES
CONTACT
ABOUT
RECENT POSTS
Sun pillar
Green Sand Beach
Largest waterfall in Europe
Mossy lava field
Largest glacier in Europe
Strokkur in action
Maar
Sea urchin and sea bluebells
Mudcracks in Gran Canaria
White storks at sunset
Waterfall like a mini Iceland
Invasive for sure but beautiful nevertheless
Boundary between Europe and America
What next for Sandatlas?
The Little Mermaid: an alternative perspective
POPULAR POSTS
SANDSTONE
GABBRO
LIMESTONE
HOW TO TAKE GOOD MACRO PHOTOS
GNEISS
MAGNETITE
COMPOSITION OF THE CRUST
ZIRCON
CORAL SAND
PEGMATITE
CHERT
OOLITE

Where are they coming from

Pegmatite

Sandstone
Sandstone is a consolidated sand. Sandstone is a very widespread and well-known
sedimentary rock. It should be no surprise because sandstones make up 10 20% of al
l sedimentary rocks and sedimentary rocks are by far the most common rocks at th
e surface (see more interesting numbers pertaining to sand in a post brain games
with sand grains).
Sandstone is composed of sand-sized (0.0625 2 mm) mineral grains, rock fragments,
or pieces of fossils which are held together by a mineral cement. Sandstone grad
es into siltstone, shale or mudstone (grains less than 0.0625 mm in diameter) an
d conglomerate (or breccia if the clasts are angular) if the average grain-size
exceeds 2 mm1.
Sandstone feels rough and grainy. Weakly cemented sandstones are often fissile a
long the layering. The width of the sample from Estonia (Old Red sandstone) is 1
4 cm.
Sandstone is very often visibly layered. The width of the sample from Scotland i
s 7 cm.
Weakly cemented Devonian sandstone outcrop in Estonia.
This is a clastic sedimentary rock from a turbidite sequence in Spain but the fr
amework grains are less than 1/16 mm in diameter which means that it is siltston
e, not sandstone. Siltstone grains are so small that human eye can not distingui
sh one grain from another. The width of the sample is 12 cm.
This rock is also clearly composed of framework grains held together by a minera
l cement but it is a conglomerate because the diameter of the grains is signific
antly larger than 2 mm. The sample is from Switzerland. The width of the sample
is 9 cm.
Sandstone and other clastic sedimentary rocks differ from the igneous rocks in p
ossessing a framework of grains which only touch each other but are not in a con
tnuous contact. Consequently, sandstone contains a network of pores which is at
least partly filled with a mineral cement. However, sandstone does not need to c
ontain open pores, they may be, and often are, completely filled with a cementin
g material. Sandstone definition is based on the size of the framework grains. N
o reference is made to the genesis.
Whether composition has any significanse is a tougher question to answer. It is
generally not important whether it is composed of mineral grains or lithic fragm
ents and what is the origin and proportion of these particles. Sandstone may eve
n contain biogenic grains (shells, coralline algae, etc) but a rock that contain
s more than 50% of sand-sized carbonate grains is usually named calcarenite whic
h is a type of limestone.
This coarse-grained rock from Cyprus shares both sandstone and limestone propert
ies. It is clearly clastic like sandstone but it is composed of carbonate grains
of biogenic origin. Such rocks are known as calcarenite, they are considered to
be a subtype of limestone. The width of the sample is 7 cm.
Sandstone composition
Sandstones are composed of mineral grains or rock fragments that were once part
of another rock. Therefore, it seems logical to assume that all rock-forming min
erals have a chance to become sandstone constituents. Theoretically it is true b
ut in reality minerals differ greatly in their ability to resist weathering.

Many rock-forming minerals are simply dissolved during the transport as sand gra
ins. Pyroxenes and amphiboles are very abundant minerals in certain dark-colored
igneous and metamorphic rocks but they are relatively rare in sandstone. Feldsp
ars are even more widespread and also more resistant to weathering. Hence, felds
pars are quite common in sandstone although significantly reduced in quantity. S
andstone that contains more than 25% feldspar is named arkose. Quartz, on the ot
her hand, is a common rock-forming mineral (although not as widespread as feldsp
ars) and it is almost insoluble in water and physically very hard. This is why q
uartz is so abundant in sand. Some sandstones (quartz arenite) are almost exclus
ively composed of quartz grains. Micas are common minerals in rocks and form a s
ignificant part of certain micaceous sandstones.
An arkose sample (contains more than 25% feldspar) from Estonia. The width of th
e view is 15 cm.
An outcrop of sandstone (quartz arenite) in Estonia consisting of almost pure qu
artz.
Poorly sorted micaceous sandstone (very rich in muscovite mica flakes) which gli
tters beautifully in sunshine. The sample is from Ireland. The width of the samp
le is 11 cm.
The framework grains in most sandstones are either mineral grains (composed of o
nly one mineral) or rock fragments (mineral aggregates of one or several mineral
s). It is the lithology of the source area that decides which ones will dominate
. Granite, gneiss, and other coarse-grained crystalline rocks yield mostly miner
al grains but fine-grained rocks like basalt and shale can contribute mostly lit
hic fragments. Lithic and muddy sandstones (graywacke) tend to be darker in colo
r than white or reddish cleaner quartzose sandstones.
Lithic coarse-grained sandstone (graywacke) from Germany. The width of the sampl
e is 11 cm.
In addition to framework grains, sandstones also consist much smaller silt- or c
lay-sized clasts known collectively as matrix and a mineral matter between the g
rains that holds them together. This is known as cement. Sandstone cement is usu
ally either carbonate (calcite and dolomite are very common) or silica (chemical
ly precipitated material identical in composition to quartz grains). Small amoun
t of iron oxides are very common also. These oxides are mostly all what is left
of unstable iron-bearing minerals like aforementioned amphiboles and pyroxenes.
A coarse-grained Ordovician quartzose sandstone with a dolomitic cement from Est
onia. The width of the sample is 5 cm.
Major sandstone components like quartz, feldspar, calcite, and iron oxides are u
sually accompanied by small amount of other minerals known as heavy minerals. Im
portant heavy minerals are magnetite, garnet, ilmenite, epidote, and zircon. Ove
rview of minerals often found in sand is here: sand minerals.
Sandstone with abundant phosphatic shells of brachiopods (Lingulata) from the Or
dovician of Estonia. Width of view is 12 cm.
Sandstone formation
Sandstone forms when sand layers are buried under sediments. Ground water that m
oves through the sand layers carries dissolved mineralized matter which precipit
ates over time to bind individual sand grains into solid rock. The most common b
inding agents in sandstone are quartz, calcite, and iron oxides.
This outcrop consists of visibly layered and grainy rocks but it is not sandston

e. This is a pyroclastic rock (volcanic sediment) known as tuff. The outcrop is

in France (The Massif Central).
This is what happens to sandstone if it gets buried deep enough. Sand grains fus
e together to form a metamorphic rock known as quartzite.
Structures in sandstone
Sandstone structures are easily visible to the naked eye and their study is usua
lly possible only in outcrops. Their scale is simply too large to be studied mic
roscopically. Sedimentary rocks are usually layered and sandstone is no exceptio
n. Individual layers are made visible mostly by the variation in grain size. Lay
ers are often easily noticeable because they may be differently colored. This is
often also the result of a grain-size variation because water flows more easily
in coarser layers and leaves behind more iron oxides. However, layers may also
differ in original mineral content right after the deposition.
Common structure in sandstone is graded bedding which means that the grain-size
gets gradually smaller, usually from coarse at the bottom to the finer sand at t
he top. This indicates that the current that carried sand grains gradually lost
its velocity. Cross-stratification or cross-bedding is a structure where parts o
f the sandstone sequence are deposited at an angle to the main sequence. Cross-b
edding suggests that the sand form as a whole was slowly moving down-current. Th
ere are many types of cross-stratification which are not easy to differentiate b
ecause outcrops generally show us only a two-dimensional snapshot of the whole s
andy dataset.
Layered sandstone from Germany. The width of the sample is 7 cm.
Unconsolidated dune sand in Estonia. Rust-colored layers are slightly coarser.
Cross-stratified sandstone from Switzerland with a light-colored vein of calcite
. Such sandstones from the Alps are often named flysch. The width of the sample
is 16 cm.
Alternating layers of conglomerate, fine-grained sandstone, and coarse-grained s
andstone from Ireland.
Alternating layers of fine- and coarse-grained sandstone, and conglomerate in a
pebble from Estonia.
Ripples in sandstone. The width of the sample is 16 cm.
Tilted muddy sandstone (wacke) layers on the eastern coast of Ireland.
This small strongly cemented sandstone from Estonia has a special importance to
me. I already collected rocks as a young kid but only few samples of my early co
llection have survived. This is one of them. I remember that I found a pebble wh
ich was reddish on one side and yellow on the other. I breaked it with the help
of bigger rocks as I always did (and still do although now I mostly use a hammer
) to see a fresh surface and kept one of the resulting pieces. At that time (I w
as probably younger than 10) I had no idea how to name it. Now I know that this
is strongly cemented sandstone (sometimes named quartzite) from the Proterozoic
(it formed roughly 1.4 billion years ago). The width of the sample is 4 cm.
Sandstone is usually known as layered and often cross-stratified sedimentary roc
k but sometimes it may form even columns. These sandstone columns occur in the N
egev Desert (Makhtesh Ramon), Israel.
Sandstone color

The color of sandstone is highly variable. The most common mineral in most sands
tones is quartz which is colorless if pure. Hence, pure quartzose sandstone tend
s to be light-colored (picture below about quartz arenite). However, these sand
grains are often covered with very fine-grained hematitic pigment which gives va
riable shade of reddish color to the rock. The cement is usually responsible for
the color of sandstone although the main coloring agent may sometimes make up l
ess than 1% of the rocks volume. This is a common situation with redbeds to whic
h vivid red color is given by a small amount of iron oxide (mostly hematite). Sa
ndstones that contain lots of rock fragments (lithic sandstones) are often darkcolored. Such sandstones are known as graywacke although this term is a bit oldfashioned nowadays.
Coarse-grained strongly cemented sandstone (gritstone) from Israel. Hematite giv
es it a reddish color which is very typical to sandstones. The width of the samp
le is 8 cm.
An outcrop of sandstone on the eastern coast of Scotland. Hematite is again resp
onsible for the reddish coloration.
Sandstone types
Sandstone is a granular rock but usually it is assumed that these grains are mos
tly composed of silicate minerals. Clastic rock which is composed of carbonate s
hells is considered to be a special type of limestone (calcarenite or coquina),
not sandstone or conglomerate.
Feldspar-rich sandstone (arkose) from Argentina. The width of the sample is 18 c
m.
Poorly sorted lithic sandstone (graywacke) from Scotland. The width of the sampl
e is 8 cm.
Calcareous sandstone from Switzerland containing lots of fossils. Such sandstone
s are known as molasse. The width of the sample is 8 cm.
Uses of sandstone
Sandstone is a rock type which has many uses. Strongly cemented sandstone is use
d as a building material all over the world where sandstone is readily available
. Sandstone is often used in house building and fireplaces.
Crushed sandstone (as sand) is a common filling material in road construction an
d sand is a principal component of concrete. Pure quartz sand is a source of sil
ica which is used to make glass, carborundum, and semiconductors. Some strong sa
ndstones with sharp grains (gritstone) are good for grinding.
Special types of crushed sandstones are used in agriculture as a soil conditione
rs (lime sand) or fertilizer (glauconite sand). Chemical industry uses sandstone
because it is very resistant to most acids (however, this is true if the sand i
s really almost pure quartz sand). Last, but not least, sandstone, because it is
porous, is by far the most important reservoir rock of ground water and hydroca
rbons (crude oil and natural gas).
Sandstone is also a very valuable material for geologists because it is abundant
, resistant to diagenesis, and contains lots of information to reconstruct the E
arth s geologic history.
Sandstone is often strong enough to be used as a building material. This visibly
grainy slab of sandstone contains lots of reddish feldspar grains. The width of

the tile is 7 cm.

Glauconite is a green silicate mineral that usually occurs in marine sandstones
and gives them greenish color. Glauconite sand may be used as a fertilizer. This
sample of glauconite sandstone (greenbed) is from Estonia. The width of the sam
ple is 5 cm.
Sandstone from Australia containing semi-precious mineraloid opal. The width of
the sample is 4 cm.
Tar sand is a clastic sediment which contains sticky hydrocarbons (heavy fractio
n of crude oil). In the future we most likely use these rocks as an energy sourc
e more than we do at the present to satisfy our thirst for crude oil. The width
of the sample is 5 cm.
References
1. Jackson, J. A. (1997). Glossary of Geology, 4th Edition. American Geological
Institute.
August 27th, 2012 | Category: Rocks
6 comments to Sandstone
Zac
December 5, 2012 at 08:17
I love your work. I am able to learn so much from your posts. I appreciate,
very much, the time and dedication put toward this blog. Thank you very much, Si
im Sepp.
Zac Montoya
Siim
December 10, 2012 at 17:53
It s my pleasure to work on these posts and my hope that it would be useful an
d pleasurable for others as well.
Denathan
February 17, 2013 at 20:45
Wow 84,o48 spam comments and only one that is actually meaningful? thats a l
ittle sad. anyway thank you so much for this.
it really helped me with my science homework.
judy
March 2, 2013 at 18:04
I love the picture of sandstone on the east of Scotland. Would it be possibl
e to have a copy for reference for the colours in my textile work please? I will
understand if it is not possible
Siim
March 2, 2013 at 18:10
Judy, I am glad that you like it. You are free to use it.
Tina
November 11, 2013 at 07:23
I just bought a rock because I thought it was neat (at an auction) I was won
dering if I could e-mail you a picture of it. Maybe you would know what it is. T
hanks

 Where are they coming from

Pegmatite
Siim Sepp (www.sandatlas.org) Contact About
Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa