Chapter 14: Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks Sedimentary rocks are those rocks that form from sediment

that has been mechanically deposited by a fluid (e.g., wind, water, or ice) or chemically deposited (precipitated) from solution. As I said at the end of Chapter 12 (weathering), the end products of mechanical and chemical weathering are the raw material needed to create a sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rocks fall into two broad categories, detrital rocks and chemical rocks. Detrital sedimentary rocks consist of cemented sediment grains that represent fragments of pre-existing rocks. Chemical rocks are deposited by the chemical process of precipitation from solution. Sedimentary rocks form in the following way: weathering of preexisting rocks creates rock fragments, clay minerals, iron oxides, and dissolved compounds in solution. These weathering products are then eroded and transported to somewhere else. Then, rock fragments are deposited to create a detrital sediment, or chemical compounds are precipitated to create a chemical sediment. The sediment (whether detrital or chemical) is then lithified (i.e., turned into a sedimentary rock) via two processes, including compaction and cementation. To summarize, sedimentary rocks are created via the following processes: weathering erosion/transport deposition/precipitation lithification.

Lets start by making some comments about detrital rocks. As shown in Figure 14.2, rock fragments change as they are eroded and transported. In general, with increasing transport distance, they become smaller, rounder, and better sorted, as shown here:

Non-marine

Marine

Alluvial Fan River Delta Nearshore marine Offshore marine Sea level Gravel/sand silt/clay

Sand silt/clay

Silt/clay

Clay/CaCO3/SiO2

GRAIN SIZE DECREASES ROUNDING INCREASES SORTING INCREASES

Change in sediment characteristics with transport.

Think of sorting as representing grain size similarity. A well-sorted sediment or sedimentary rock contains grains that are all similar in size. In contrast, a poorly sorted sediment or sedimentary rock contains a wide range of grain sizes, as shown here:

Poorly sorted

Well sorted

Poorly sorted vs. well sorted sediment. We can get a general sense of how far a river sediment has been transported by making some basic observations about grain size, degree of rounding, and degree of sorting. This gives us a basic point of comparison between modern sediments and ancient sedimentary rocks. To understand the environment in which an ancient sedimentary rock formed, we compare the characteristics of this ancient rock with the characteristics of modern sediments. Stated another way, we use present depositional environments as a standard of comparison in understanding ancient depositional environments. The whole game with sedimentary rocks is to figure out as much as we can about the ancient depositional environment in which the sedimentary rock formed. Fundamentally, the only way to do this is to compare ancient sedimentary rock characteristics with those of modern sediments forming in present-day depositional environments. Hey, did you notice that were invoking one of geologys big ideas here? For an honorary A, do remember the name of the principle that the present is the key to the past? That would be.uniformitarianism! Simply put, we understand ancient depositional environments in terms of modern ones. Once we get far enough offshore, the only detrital sediments we find are very fine-grained clay deposits. Under the right conditions, chemicals can precipitate directly from sea water or with the help of small organisms (plankton) living in the water column. In both cases, chemical deposition (precipitation) can lead to the accumulation of biological sediments and ultimately biochemical sedimentary rocks. Alluvial fans and rivers are two common non-marine depositional environments, whereas marine depositional environments include nearshore (e.g., continental shelf) and offshore (e.g., abyssal plain) environments. Heres an image of an alluvial fan in Death Valley:
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2,000 ft approx.

Alluvial Fan, Death Valley, CA

(image courtesy Google Earth)

Note the road for scale along the bottom of the fan. High up, near the head of the fan, the sediments are quite gravelly. Further downstream on the fan surface, near the road, the sediments become more sandy. Heres a photo of some ancient alluvial fan deposits in the Mecca Hills, southeast of Palm Springs:

Alluvial fan deposits, Mecca Hills, CA. I didnt have a hand lens or car keys with me when I took the above picture, so I impro vised in terms of showing an object for scale . Note the large fragment sizes, angular shapes, and poor sorting of the fragments in the above photo. Having been lithified, this deposit has been converted into sedimentary rock (conglomerate). However, we can correlate the characteristics
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of this rock (e.g., grain size, rounding, and sorting) with similar ones seen in modern alluvial fan environmentsthats how geologists know this rock formed in an ancient alluvial fan environment. It should be clear to you by now that gravelly detrital sedimentary rocks like the one above typically form in an upstream environment, near the base of mountains, because thats where were likely to find, large, poorly sorted, angular fragments that havent trave lled very far from their source (and so havent become very well rounded or sorted). In contrast, heres a photo of some shale from the Borrego Formation, near Borrego Springs, CA (note my ring for scale).

Gypsiferous shale, Borrego Formation, near Borrego Springs, CA. The above rock is very, very fine-grained, well sorted, and mostly consists mostly of clay. Youd need a high-powered microscope to see individual sediment grains. The above rock is very thin-bedded, which is why we call it a shale rather than claystone (shale = thin-bedded claystone). The white, needle-like crystals growing in between bedding planes (sedimentary layers) are gypsum crystals. Judging from the fine grain size, this rock formed in a downstream environment, where currents were weak. Once again, we can determine the ancient depositional environment of this rock by correlating its characteristics with modern depositional environments.
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In this case, the shale in the above photo was deposited in an ancient lake that last occupied the Borrego Valley about a million years ago. Around that time, the climate became more arid (dry), and evaporative conditions resulted in the precipitation of calcium sulfate (i.e., the mineral, gypsum) between bedding planes. The presence of abundant gypsum tells us that this rock formed under evaporative conditions. Once a sediment is deposited, it becomes hardened, or lithified, by two processes, including compaction and cementation (Figure 14.6). Common sedimentary cements include calcium carbonate (calcite, CaCO3), iron oxide (hematite, Fe2O3), and silica (quartz; SiO2). Remember that iron oxide, silica, and the chemical building blocks of calcium carbonate (HCO3- and Ca++) are common chemical weathering products, so heres a great example of the end products of weathering serving as the raw material for sedimentary rocks. Your book goes into quite a bit of detail describing various detrital sedimentary rocks, including conglomerate, breccia, sandstone, and shale. You should familiarize yourself with the overall properties of these rocks. Study Table 14.1 (and the summary rock table, below), but dont worry about knowing particle diameters. Just remember that conglomerate and breccia are coarse-grained, gravelly sedimentary rocks. Sandstone is obviously composed of sand-sized fragments. Mudrocks include mudstone, siltstone, and shale. Mud in this context just refers to a fine -grained detrital sediment that represents a mixture of silt- and clay-sized particles. Clay in this context refers to very, very fine-grained particles (many of which also happen to be clay minerals, but its also possible to have quartz and feldspar grains in the clay-sized range). Shale is simply mudstone or claystone that is finely layered (laminated) such that it tends to break apart in thin sheets. Heres a link to an absolutely amazing scanning electron microscope image of a detrital sandstone (magnified millions of times!)basically some rounded quartz grains cemented together with calcite: SEM Sandstone Image. As you might imagine, many detrital sedimentary rocks consist of a mixture of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. Gravel-rich rocks are easy to identify in the field because the grains are clearly visible. But what about finer-grained rocks that may be mixtures of sand, silt, and clay? Over hundreds of years, geologists have developed a very sophisticated field test for judging the relative amounts of sand-, silt-, and clay-sized particles in detrital sedimentary rocks.the taste test! Basically, it works like this: say you walk up to an outcrop and want to get an approximate sense of how much sand vs. silt vs. clay comprises the detrital rock youre studying. Just break off a small piece, pop it into your mouth, and chew on it a bit! If your rock is crunchy, its mostly made of sand. If its gritty, its mostly silt, and if it has a wonderfully creamy texture, its mostly clay. So when a geologist says shes hungry for knowledge about detrital sedimentary rocks, you can take her at her literally . Heres a simple classification chart for detrital sedimentary rocks:

DETRITAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS Particle Size Description Rounded rock or mineral fragments, typically poorly sorted. Angular rock or mineral fragments, typically poorly sorted. Rock Name (link) Conglomerate Breccia

Coarse (> 2 mm) Gravel

Medium (1/16 - 2 mm) Sand

Quartz grains & minor accessory minerals; typically well-sorted, rounded grains; cements of all types common At least 25% feldspar at least 20% clay minerals, some rock fragments, quartz, and feldspar; poorly sorted

Quartz Sandstone Arkose Greywacke

Fine (1/16 - 1/256 mm) Silt Fine to Very Fine (1/16 to less than 1/256 mm) Silt and Clay (Mud) Fine to Very Fine (1/16 to < 1/256 mm)

Composed of mostly silt-sized particles; gritty texture. Composed of a mixture of silt- and clay-sized particles (mud) or clay-sized particles only; laminated (thin-bedded). Composed of a mixture of silt- and clay-sized particles (mud) or clay-sized particles only; non-laminated (not thin-bedded).

Siltstone

Shale

Mudstone/Claystone

You wont be required to distinguish various types of sandstone; just know that sandstone is a detrital sedimentary rock composed of sand-sized fragments. Okay, on to the chemical rocks. Common chemical sedimentary rocks include limestone, chert, and evaporates like rock salt and rock gypsum. We distinguish these various chemical rocks mainly on the basis of chemical composition. Limestone is perhaps the most common chemical sedimentary rock. It consists mostly of the non-silicate mineral, calcite (calcium carbonate), which can form either organically or inorganically. Although limestone composed of shell material is biochemical, such limestone still mostly consists of fragments that range in size from relatively large to microscopic. Coarse-grained, shell-hash limestone is called coquina (Figure 14.20), whereas fine-grained limestone composed of the shells of marine microorganisms is called chalk. Heres a classification chart for chemical sedimentary rocks:

CHEMICAL SEDIMENTARY ROCKS Origin Composition Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 Texture/Description Crystalline (interlocking crystals) Rock Name (link) Origin Precipitated directly from sea water, surface water (lakes) or groundwater (caves/springs). Alteration of limestone by magnesium-rich solutions. Precipitation from silica-rich fluids. Evaporation of saline lakes or sea water. Evaporation of saline lakes or sea water. Cementation of shells, shell fragments. Cementation of skeletal material. Cementation of shells, shell fragments. Cementation of skeletal material. Compressed plant matter.

Limestone

Inorganic Chemical

Calcium Magnesium Carbonate CaMg(CO3)2 Silica SiO2 Sodium Chloride NaCl Calcium Sulfate CaSO4-2H20

Crystalline (interlocking crystals) Microcrystalline (interlocking microscopic crystals); well-cemented Crystalline (interlocking crystals) Crystalline (interlocking crystals) Visible shells/shell fragments, loosely cemented

Dolostone

Chert

Rock Salt Rock Gypsum

Coquina (limestone)

Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 Biochemical

Microscopic marine organisms, loosely cemented Shell fragments, cemented with calcite cement

Chalk (limestone)

Fossiliferous limestone

Silica SiO2 Organic Matter

Microscopic marine organisms, well cemented Fine-grained

Chert

Coal

Most limestones are biochemical and form in warm, shallow marine waters by invertebrates that construct their shells out of calcium carbonate. You and I do the same thing except that we use calcium phosphate to build our bones and teeth. Note that limestone and chert can form both inorganically and biochemically, although biochemical chert and limestone are more common than their inorganic counterparts. Chalk, for example, is a biochemical form of limestone composed of billions of microscopic organisms (plankton) that float freely in sea water. When these critters die, their shells sink to the sea bottom, and in some environments accumulate to form chalk.
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Heres a link to a website where you can see scanning electronic microscope (SEM) images of one example of such a crittera calcarious planktonic organism called a coccolith: SEM Image of Coccoliths in Chalk. Check it out! Dolomite (or more correctly, dolostone) is just magnesium-rich limestone. In Florida, theres an amazing military fortress made entirely out of coquina (shell hash) limestone. Although coquina is about the last rock one would normally choose in making a military fortress (because its very soft), the one in Florida has held up quite well over the centuries. Its so soft that cannon balls just get lodged inside the soft, coquina walls! Heres a link if youre curious: Coquina Fortress (scroll down the page to see a close-up photo of coquina). Chert is a fine-grained chemical sedimentary rock formed mostly of pure silica (microcrystalline quartz). Like limestone, chert can form both inorganically and biochemically. Its probably fair to say that most chert forms in deep marine waters. When planktonic (free floating) organisms that make their shells out of silica die, their bodies sink to the sea floor and accumulate as siliceous ooze. With lithification, a hard, silica-rich biochemical sedimentary rock is produced called chert. Chert is a common rock type found in ancient subduction zones, because it often gets scraped off the subducting plate and plastered onto the non-subducting plate as subduction proceeds. Heres an SEM image of a common microscopic organism from which chert is madea silicarich, shelled animal (zooplankton) called a radiolarian: SEM Image of Radiolarian. Chert is typically packed full of these critters! Evaporites (mostly rock salt and rock gypsum) obviously form in drying, evaporative environments such as playa lakes (Figure 14.24). As such, evaporates are good indicators of dry environments. A modern example of inland, playa (evaporative) lake is Searles Dry Lake, in the Mojave Desert, near Ridgecrest, California. Every year, thousands of folks descend on Searles Dry Lake for the annual, Gem-O-Rama mineral show and also for the chance to collect rare, pink halite (salt) crystals from the lake bed. I had the opportunity to experience Gem-O-Rama a few years back. Heres what the lake bed looks like:

Searles Dry Lake, Trona, CA Its a veritable moonscape consisting of a halite crust and hundreds of salty brine pools. The best halite crystals are found within the brine pools, underneath overhan ging ledgesyes, you have to wade in, but its worth getting hot, wet, and salty. Heres a photo of some spectacular pink halite crystals I found in one of the brine pools:

Pink halite crystals, Searles Dry Lake, Trona CA. The pink color comes from millions of tiny, salt-loving microorganisms that become incorporated into the growing halite crystals as they precipitate.

Here again, we can understand the past in terms of the present. Anywhere in the geologic record we find rock salt deposits, we know that the area was once a playa lake, or perhaps an evaporating sea, because we know from direct observation that playa lakes and evaporating seas are where extensive salt deposits form in current geologic time. Coal (lithified plant material) is another very important biochemical sedimentary rock for economic reasons. In contrast to evaporates, coal beds form is wet, soggy, swampy environments. Heres a photo of a large coal mine in Wyoming:

Wyoming coal mine

(courtesy Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal).

Make sure youre familiar with all of the common sedimentary rock types mentione d above. Basically, youll want to become pretty familiar with Tables 14.1 and 14.2 and the summary charts above. On the exam, Ill probably ask you to name various examples of both detrital a nd chemical sedimentary rocks. Or, Ill give you a description of the rock and ask you to name it. In general, sedimentary rocks contain clues about the depositional environments in which they formed. What clues? Things like grain size, degree of rounding, degree of sorting, and even rock composition, not to mention occasional fossils. Sometimes the sequence of a group of sedimentary rocks tells us something about ancient depositional environments and how theyve changed with time. Try the following link for a simple animation that shows how ancient sea level changes can be inferred from sedimentary rock sequences: Transgression and Regression (scroll down to 5.2). Sedimentary rocks also contain other clues about their depositional environmentsclues that geologists call sedimentary structures.

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Think of a sedimentary structure as any feature within a sediment or sedimentary rock that developed during or after deposition or precipitation. Heres a partial list of common sedimentary structures and what they tell us about depositional environment: Beddinghorizontal layering. This is the most common sedimentary structure of all, and its presence is usually what alerts us to the fact that were dealing with a sedimentary rock ( Figure 14.26).

Interbedded sandstone and siltstone. Crossbeddinginclined layering; a common structure found in sandstones; indicative of a marine or nonmarine dune environment (Figure 14.28). Crossbeds are inclined downward in a downstream direction. For an animated version of the process that produces crossbedding, try this Crossbedding Animation (5.1).

Downstream paleocurrent direction

Crossbedded sandstone, Torrey Pines State Park.

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Ripple Marksindicative of fairly rapid current velocities (Figure 14.29); typically form in river, tidal, desert, and delta environments. Heres a good online photo of some ripple marks.

Ripple marks, Anza-Borrego State Park. Mud Crackspolygonal cracks sometimes preserved in fine-grained sediments as they dry; indicative of a drying environment (e.g., a playa lake or floodplain). Try this link for some online photos of mudcracks.

Mudcracks, Anza-Borrego State Park.

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Raindrop Imprintssmall depressions created by the force of falling raindrops on muddy sediment.

Raindrop imprints, Anza-Borrego State Park. Imbricationa domino-style stacking of gravel fragments with long axes inclined upward in a downstream direction.

Downstream transport direction

Imbricated conglomerate, Anza-Borrego State Park.

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Fossils (evidence of ancient life) are also an important component of sedimentary rocks, in part because sedimentary rocks are generally the only type of rock that contains fossils. Think of the fossils in a sedimentary rock as a sort of sedimentary structure. Fossils tell us a lot about the characteristics of ancient life, but they also tell us a lot about ancient depositional environments. Most often, fossils can be used to distinguish marine from nonmarine depositional environments and can also tell us something about ancient climates.

Scallop fossils from the San Diego Formation, Tourmaline Beach. One last section to read carefully is the one entitled, Plate Tectonics and Sedimentary Rocks. Like almost every other aspect of geology, we can relate sedimentary rock types in a general way to plate tectonic environment. Let me summarize for you: Thick accumulations of detrital sedimentary rocks can often be correlated with nearby uplift and mountain building processes occurring at convergent plate boundaries. Detrital sedimentary rocks containing abundant volcanic rock fragments (greywacke sandstones, for example) are often associated with subduction zones, where nearby island arc and continental arc volcanoes emit volcanic debris. Fault-bounded basins with thick sedimentary rock accumulations are also associated with transform plate boundaries. As your text points out, many of the petroleum reserves in California formed in sedimentary basins that developed as the San Andreas transform fault system developed. Divergent boundaries often produce diverse groups of sedimentary rock, with coarse-grained, gravel-rich detrital sedimentary rocks and basaltic volcanic rocks developing along the sides of a rift valley in the early stages of plate divergence. Evaporites may form out in the middle of the widening rift valley (Figure 4.42).

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