Sedimentary Rock Identification Chart

TEXTURE GRAIN SIZE >2 mm Clastic 1/16 - 2 mm >1/16 mm <1/16 mm COMPOSITION rock fragments, quartz, feldspar quartz, feldspar feldspar, quartz quartz, clay minerals calcite Chemical silica (quartz) gypsum halite organic material, plant fragments Biologic calcite, shell and skeletal fragments calcite with some fossils ROCK NAME Conglomerate Sandstone Siltstone Mudstone Limestone Chert Rock Gypsum Rock Salt Bituminous Coal Coquina Fossiliferous 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 feldspararkose 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 Chertrecrystallized diatoms Evaporites

I dont fizz. I display conchoidal fracture

Im a fizzer, too!

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 Ancient
Interference ripples: interaction b/w 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