Sedimentary Rocks

Clastic vs. Non-clastic

Sedimentary rocks in two major groups
Clastic (detrital)
Composed of fragments of silicate minerals (mostly
quartz and clay)
Name largely determined by the grain size (see
handout)

Non-clastic
Composed of various minerals (usually just one)
Name largely determined by the composition

Clastic (detrital)
Coarse grained (> 2 mm)
Conglomerate (rounded pieces)
Breccia (angular pieces)

Medium grained (<2 mm but still visible)

Quartz sandstone (mostly quartz)
Arkose (abundant feldspar often pink)
Greywacke (much clay often dark in colour)

Fine grained rocks (cannot see ind. grains)

All mudrocks
Siltstone (gritty), shale (splits easily), claystone
(smooth, slippery feel)

Non-clastic
All one mineral (usually)
Often crystalline (visibly so or VERY smooth
(with conchoidal fracture)
Named according to mineral present (use hardness
and reactivity to HCl)
H > glass, no HCl reaction: mineral is chalcedony, rock
is chert
H ~ penny, no HCl reaction: mineral is dolomite, rock
is limestone (dolomitic)
H ~ penny, HCl reaction: mineral is calcite, rock is
limestone
Penny > H > fingernail, salty taste, no HCl reaction:
mineral is halite, rock is Rock salt
H < fingernail, no HCl reaction: mineral is gypsum,
rock is Rock gypsum

Doing the lab CaCO3?

Test with HCl (acid).
Fizz means calcite present.
If its all calcite rock is non-clastic

Be careful to note if the rock is dominantly

calcite or just partly (i.e., is the rock all
calcite, a limestone, or just random parts,
e.g., a calcite cemented sandstone)

Doing the lab C or NC

C: is the rock clastic; i.e., composed of
discrete particles (grains) of silicate
material (quartz, feldspar, clays, etc.)?
NC: is the rock non-clastic; i.e., all one
mineral, probably a non-silicate, and
probably crystalline?

Doing the lab Grain size

Only applicable to clastic rocks (i.e. with nonclastic rocks say not applicable or n.a.)
Coarse grained (c.g.): > 2 mm
Medium grained (m.g.): vis. grains to 2 mm
Fine grained (f.g.): gritty on teeth
Very fine grained (v.f.g.): slippery to feel
(probably with an earthy smell)
HINT: The higher the clay content of clastic rock
the darker the colour.

Doing the lab Components

What makes up the rock
Grains? (Sand, silt, pebbles, )
Of what?
A single mineral?
Multiple components?

Sorting
Only applicable to clastic rocks (for non-clastic rocks
say n.a.)
Fine-grained (and v.f.g.) rocks are too fine to see the
sorting. Say too fine to see or n.d.
Two kinds of sorting
Compositional
Well = composed of only one component
Poor = mix of several different components

Size
Well = all grains are same size
Poor = grains are all sizes

Compositional and Size sorting usually go hand-in-hand

Other features
Include:

Fossils
Salty taste
Obvious bedding/laminations
Ooids (oolites)

Name
Use
Handout chart
Book
Wall poster

Questions?