Chapter 5

Rocks

 Rock is a compact, semi hard to hard mass of natural material

composed of one or several minerals

 Rocks are grouped into three main categories:

 Igneous: formed from cooling of magma

 Sedimentary: formed when weathered fragments of other rocks

are compressed and cemented together

 Metamorphic: formed by alteration (due to heat, pressure and/or

chemical action) of a pre-existing igneous or sedimentary rock
Rock cycle
 I- IGNEOUS ROCKS
Igneous rocks are formed from the volcano Magma that cools,
crystallizes and solidifies.
Igneous rocks form in two main places:

1. where lithospheric plates pull apart at mid-ocean ridges

2. where plates come together at subduction zones
Igneous rocks are divided into two groups:

• Intrusive
• Extrusive
depending upon where the molten rock solidifies
Intrusive, or plutonic igneous rocks forms when magma is trapped
deep inside the Earth, where it cools very slowly over many thousands
or millions of years until it solidifies.
Slow cooling means:
the individual mineral grains have a very long time to grow, so they
grow to a relatively large size. Intrusive rocks have a coarse
grained texture. The image shows granite, an intrusive igneous rock
Extrusive, or volcanic igneous rock is produced when magma exits
and cools outside of, or very near the Earth's surface
The magma, called lava when molten rock erupts on the surface, cools
and solidifies almost instantly when it is exposed to the relatively cool
temperature of the atmosphere.
Quick cooling means:
the mineral crystals don't have much time to grow, so these rocks have
a very fine-grained or even glassy texture. Hot gas bubbles are often
trapped in the quenched lava, forming a bubbly texture. Pumice,
obsidian, and basalt are all extrusive igneous rocks.

PUMICE

OBSIDIAN

VOLCANIC ASH
Main Igneous rocks used for construction
• Granite: Often used for buildings and architectural construction
• Gabbro: Used in crushed stone for concrete aggregate, road..
• Pumice: Used as an abrasive material in hand soup
• Basalt: Used for concrete aggregate and for road base, asphalt
pavement aggregate

Granite

Intrusive
Extrusive

Pumice
 II- SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 Sedimentary Rocks are rocks formed when particles of sediment
build up and are “cemented together” by the effect of pressure and
minerals.
 These rocks are recognized by layered or strata.
 Plant fossils and animal fossils can be found in sedimentary rocks

Grand Canyon-Arizona
SEDIMENTARY
Classification of Sedimentary Rocks

Sediments are the building blocks of sedimentary rocks.

 Sediments are diverse, as are the rocks made from them.

 Sediments are classified into four types:

• Clastic : Made from weathered rock fragments.

• Biochemical: Cemented shells of organisms.
• Organic : The carbon-rich remains of plants.
• Chemical: Minerals that crystallize directly from water.
 Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

Clastic sedimentary rocks reflect several processes:

• Weathering : Generation of detritus via rock disintegration.

• Erosion: Removal of sediment grains from rock.
• Transportation: Dispersal by wind, water, and ice.
• Deposition: Settling out of the transporting fluid.
• Lithification: Transformation into solid rock.
Transport Agents
Classified on the basis of texture and composition.

• Clast (grain) size

• Clast composition
• Angularity and sphericity
• Sorting
• Character of cement
These variables produce a diversity of clastic rocks.

A- Clast size (The average diameter of clasts)

 Range from very coarse to very fine.

 Boulder, cobble, pebble, sand, silt, and clay.
 With increasing transport, average grain size decreases.
B- Clast composition (The mineral makeup of sediments)

 May be individual minerals or rock fragments.

 Mineral identities provide clues about… The source of the sediment
 The environment of deposition.

C-Angularity and sphericity (Indicate degree of transport).

 Fresh detritus is usually angular and non-spherical.

 Grain roundness and sphericity increases with transport:
 Well-rounded – Long transport distances.
 Angular – Negligible transport.
D-Sorting (The uniformity of grain size)

 Well-sorted : Uniform grain sizes.

 Poorly sorted : Wide variety of grain sizes.

• Sorting becomes better with distance from source.

E- Cement (Minerals that fill sediment pores)

 Fluids with dissolved solids flush through pore system.

 Dissolved ions slowly crystallize and fill pores.
 Cementation varies from weak to strong.
 Common cements:
 Quartz
 Calcite
 Hematite
 Clay minerals

Coarse clastic Rocks

Composed of gravel-sized clasts

I- Breccia – angular fragments.

 Angularity indicates a lack of transport processing.

 Deposited relatively close to source.
II-Conglomerate – rounded gravel.

 Indicates water transport:

 Clasts bang together forcefully in flowing water.
 Collisions round angular corners and edges of clasts.

 Conglomerates are deposited at a distance from the source.

 Composed of Sand-Sized Particles

III- Sandstone

 A very large number of different minerals may occur in sands and in

sandstone. The most common minerals are:

1- Quartz

2- feldspar

3- Mica
SANDSTONE
 Fine clastic Rocks
 Fine clastics are composed of silt and clay:
 Silt-sized sediments are lithified to form siltstone.
 Clay-sized particles form shale.

 Fine clastics are deposited in quieter waters:

 lagoons, mudflats, deltas, deep-water basins.
 Organic-rich shales are the source of petroleum.
 Lithification of Clay
CLAY Lithification

SHALE
 Biochemical and Organic Sedimentary Rocks

These are sediments derived from living organisms:

 Biochemical: Hard mineral skeletons.

Biochemical limestone : CaCO3 skeletal (shell) remains.

 Organic: Cells of plants, algae, bacteria and plankton.

Made from organic carbon:

 Coal – Altered remains of fossil vegetation, requires deposition in
the absence of oxygen.

 Oil shale – Shale with heat altered organic matter.

 Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

 They form when water evaporates leaving the precipitated minerals

behind that are compacted into rocks.

 Evaporites are sedimentary rocks created from evaporated

seawater, examples include halite (rock salt) and gypsum.

 Travertine – Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitated from

groundwater where it reaches the surface:
 Dissolved calcium (Ca2+) reacts with bicarbonate (HCO3-), causes
CaCO3 to precipitate; example Thermal (hot) springs and caves.
Evaporites
Limestone
Travertine
 Bedding
• Sedimentary rocks are usually layered or “stratified.” Arranged in
“beds.”
• Bedding is often laterally continuous for long distances.
• Beds are often similar in composition, color and texture.
 Bed forms

• Bedforms are linked to flow velocity and sediment size:

 Ripples: created by Water flowing over loose sediment

 SAND DUNES

 Dunes – Similar to ripples except much larger.

• Form from wind-blown sand in desert or beach regions.

• Often preserve large internal cross-laminations
SAND DUNES - SANDSTONES
 Depositional Environments
• A depositional environment is a specific environment in which
sediments are deposited.

• Continental environments:

 Dominated by Water Action

• Fluvial-->Rivers
• Lacustrine-->Lakes
• Glacial-->Glaciers

 Dominated by Wind Action (Eolian)

• Deserts
• Marine Environment:

 An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor

usually found at depths between 3000 and 6000 m.

 The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent

 the continental rise: Sediments from the continent accumulates
as a pile of sediment at the base of the slope
 III- Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphisim is
 Changes in the mineralogy and texture of rocks without
melting

 A metamorphic rock can come from igneous or sedimentary

rocks, or a previously metamorphosed rock.
 Metamorphic Processes

Mineral grains soften and deform:

• Requires elevated temperatures.

• Rock is squeezed or sheared.
• Minerals act like plastic, changing shape without breaking
 METAMORPHISM
AGENTS
The agents of metamorphism are
 Heat
 Pressure
 Circulating Fluids
 Fault Motion

o Breakage of rock by
shearing at a fault zone

Fault Motion
 Hydrothermal Metamorphism

• Alteration by hot, chemically aggressive water.

• A dominant process near mid-ocean ridge magma:

 Cold ocean water seeps into fractured crust.

 Heated by magma, this water then reacts with rocks and alter
its chemistry and mineralogy
 The hot water rises and is ejected via black smokers.
Heat and Pressure
 ENERGY SOURCES

Agents Providing Heat & Pressure

 Subduction

 Collision

 Burial

 contact
Contact
Subduction
 Metamorphic Rock Types
Two major subdivisions of metamorphic rocks:

• Foliated (Has a through going planar fabric)

• Nonfoliated (No planar fabric evident, Crystallized without

differential stress )

Foliated Nonfoliated
Foliation
PRODUCTS OF METAMORPHISM
 High pressure
 Claystone Slate

High pressure
 Slate Phyllite

High pressure
 Phyllite Schist

High pressure & temperature

 Schist & granite Gneiss

High temperature
 Sandstone Quartzite
Heat
 Limestone Marble
 Slate
Schist

Marble Gneiss
 Metamorphism

Sandstone Quartzite

Metamorphism

Limestone Marble