Sedimentary Rock Identification Chart

GRAIN
TEXTURE COMPOSITION ROCK NAME
SIZE
>2 mm rock fragments, quartz, feldspar Conglomerate
1/16 - 2 mm quartz, feldspar Sandstone
Clastic
>1/16 mm feldspar, quartz Siltstone
<1/16 mm quartz, clay minerals Mudstone
calcite Limestone
silica (quartz) Chert
Chemical
gypsum Rock Gypsum
halite Rock Salt
organic material, plant fragments Bituminous Coal
calcite, shell and skeletal
Biologic Coquina
fragments
Fossiliferous
calcite with some fossils
Limestone
Clastic Sedimentary Rocks
Grain size > 2mm
Are grains rounded or angular?

Can you name these sedimentary rocks!

What do these rocks tell us about distance from source and depositional
environment?
 Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

Sandstones: Dominated by sand-sized grains

2mm > Grain size > 1/16 mm

Dominated by Rock Type

quartz………………..arenite
feldspar………………arkose
lithics………………..litharenite
Siltstones: Dominated by silt-sized grains
1/16 mm > Grain size > 1/256 mm
Mudstone: dominated by clay
Grain size < 1/256 mm

Shale: if fissile

Mudstone or Claystone:
-if not fissile (massive)
Chemical/Biogeochemical Precipitations
I fizz like crazy!
Carbonates
Limestone
Dolostone

Chert…recrystallized diatoms

Evaporites

I don’t fizz. I’m a fizzer, too!

I display conchoidal fracture
Evaporites

Gypsum varves from the Castille Fm.

Sedimentary Structures
Sedimentary structures form in the basin of deposition, as a result of the action
of natural processes such as waves, currents, drying events, etc.
List of sedimentary structures to know:
Beds or strata
Cross-bedding
Graded beds
Ripple marks
Current ripple marks (asymmetrical ripples)
Oscillation or wave ripple marks (symmetrical ripples)
Mud cracks
 Sedimentary Structures and Depositional Environments

Bedding structures

Stratification (or layering) is the most obvious

feature of sedimentary rocks. The layers (or strata)
are visible because of differences in the color or
Texture of adjacent beds. Strata thicker than 1 cm
are commonly referred to as beds.
Thinner layers are called laminations or laminae.
The upper and lower surfaces of these layers are
called bedding planes.
Varves are a special type of lamination which forms in lakes some
marine environments. They represent deposition over one year, and
their formation is related to seasonal influences.
Graded bedding results when a sediment-laden current (such as a turbidity
current) begins to slow down. The grain size within a graded bed ranges from
coarser at the bottom to finer at the top. Hence, graded beds may be used
as "up indicators".
Cross-stratification is a general term for the internal bedding structure produced
in sand or coarse silt by moving wind or water.

Asymmetric waves

Cross-stratification forms beneath ripples and dunes. The layering is inclined at an angle
to the horizontal, dipping downward in the down-current direction. Hence, cross-beds may
be used as paleocurrent indicators, or indicators of ancient current flow directions.
Cross-beds curve at the bottom edge, becoming tangent to the lower bed surface. The upper
edge of individual inclined cross-beds is at a steep angle to the overlying bedding plane.
 Modern

Interference ripples: interaction b/w

Ancient waves and currents

Ripples are undulations of the sediment surface produced as wind or

water moves across sand.
Ripples which form in unidirectional currents (such as in streams or rivers)
tend to be asymmetrical.
Because of this unique geometry, asymmetrical ripples in the rock record
may be used to determine ancient current directions or paleocurrent
directions.
In waves or oscillating water, symmetrical ripples are produced.
 Modern

Ancient
Mudcracks are a polygonal pattern of cracks
produced on the surface of mud as it dries.
The mud polygons between the cracks may
be broken up later by water movement, and
redeposited as intraclasts

Can mudcracks tell us the ‘up’ direction in

ancient rocks?
 Sole marks are bedding plane structures preserved
on the bottom surfaces of beds.

They generally result from the filling in of impressions made into

the surface of soft mud by the scouring action of the current, or by
the impacts of objects carried by the current. If sand is deposited
later over the mud, filling in these structures, they will be preserved
in relief on the bottom of the sandstone bed.
Tool marks are produced as "tools" (objects such as sticks, shells,
bones, or pebbles) carried by a current bounce, skip, roll, or drag
along the sediment surface. They are commonly preserved on the
lower surfaces of sandstone beds as thin ridges. Tool marks are
generally aligned parallel to the direction of current movement.
Flute marks are produced by erosion or scouring of muddy sediment,
forming "scoop-shaped" depressions.
They are commonly preserved as bulbous or mammilary natural casts on
the bottoms of sandstone beds. Because of their geometry, flute marks
(also called flute casts) can be used to determine paleocurrent directions.
 Ancient dinosaur tracks

Modern racoon tracks

Trace fossils or ichnofossils include tracks, trails, burrows, borings, and

other marks made in the sediment by organisms. They are bioturbation
structures formed as the activities of organisms disrupt the sediment. As
organisms tunnel through sediment, they destroy primary sedimentary
structures (such as laminations) and produce burrow marks. Bioturbation
continuing over a long period of time will thoroughly mix and homogenize the
sediment.
 “Trails” produced by Climactichnites,
A crawling organism from the Cambrian.

Burrows.

One may also find rootmarks of ancient plants.

Continental Sedimentary Environments
Alluvial fans are fan-shaped deposits formed at the base of mountains.
Alluvial fans are most common in arid and semi-arid regions where rainfall
is infrequent but torrential, and erosion is rapid.
Alluvial fan sediment is typically coarse, poorly- sorted gravel and sand.
Fluvial environments include braided
and meandering river and stream
systems. River channels, bars,
levees, and floodplains are parts (or
subenvironments) of the fluvial
environment.
Channel deposits consist of coarse,
rounded gravel, and sand.
Bars are made of sand or gravel.
Levees are made of fine sand or silt.
Floodplains are covered by silt and
clay.
Lacustrine environments (or lakes)
are diverse; they may be large or
small, shallow or deep, and filled with
terrigenous, carbonate, or evaporitic
sediments. Fine sediment and
organic matter settling in some lakes
produced laminated oil shales.
Deserts (Aeolian or aolian
environments) usually contain vast
areas where sand is deposited in
dunes. Dune sands are cross-bedded,
well sorted, and well rounded, without
associated gravel or clay.
Swamps (Paludal environments) Standing water with trees. ???? is deposited.
Coastal and Nearshore
Environments
Deltas are fan-shaped deposits formed
where a river flows into a standing body of
water, such as a lake or sea. Coarser
sediment (sand) tends to be deposited
near the mouth of the river; finer sediment
is carried seaward and deposited in deeper
water. Some well known deltas include the
Mississippi River delta and the Nile River
delta.

Name the Delta

Name the Delta

Beaches are shoreline deposits
exposed to wave energy and
dominated by sand with a marine
fauna.
Lagoons are bodies of water on the
landward side of barrier islands. They
are protected from the pounding of the
ocean waves by the barrier islands,
and contain finer sediment than the
beaches (usually silt and mud).
Lagoons are also present behind
reefs, or in the center of atolls.

Tidal flats border lagoons. They are

periodically flooded and drained by
tides (usually twice each day). Tidal
flats are areas of low relief, cut by
meandering tidal channels. Laminated
or rippled clay, silt, and fine sand
(either terrigenous or carbonate) may
be deposited. Intense burrowing is
common.
Reefs are wave-resistant, mound-like structures made of the calcareous
skeletons of organisms such as corals and certain types of algae. Most
modern reefs are in warm, clear, shallow, tropical seas, between the
latitudes of 30oN and 30oS of the equator. Sunlight is required for reef
growth because of the presence of symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae
which live in the tissues of corals. Atolls are ring-like reefs surrounding a
central lagoon (such as Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean).
Off-shore Environments
The continental shelf is the flooded edge of the continent. The
continental shelf is relatively flat (slope < 0.1o), shallow (less than 200 m
or 600 ft deep), and may be up to hundreds of miles wide. (The flooding
of the edges of the continents occurred when the glaciers melted at the
end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.) Continental shelves are
exposed to waves, tides, and currents, and are covered by sand, silt, and
mud.
The continental slope and continental rise are located seaward of the
continental shelf. The continental slope is the steep (5- 25o) "dropoff" at the
edge of the continent. The continental slope passes seaward into the
continental rise, which has a more gradual slope. The continental rise is the
site of deposition of thick accumulations of sediment, much of which is in
submarine fans, deposited by turbidity currents.
 The abyssal plain is the deep ocean floor. It is basically flat, and
is covered by very fine-grained sediment, consisting primarily of
clay and the shells of microscopic organisms (such as
foraminifera, radiolarians, and diatoms).

Abyssal
plain