EVSC 2800 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Lithification, Diagenesis, Deep Sea
12 May 2016
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Document Summary
Only the very thin surface layer that humans occupy is mostly sedimentary rock. Abundance of various types of sedimentary rocks: siltstone, mudstone, shale 75, limestone and dolostone 14, sandstone and conglomerate 11% Sediments must accumulate for sedimentary rocks to form. Flowing current transports clastic material in two ways: 1. Bed load, sliding and rolling along the bottom: suspended load, temporarily or permanently suspended. Clastic sedimentary rocks are classified by the size of their particles: conglomerates=coarse=gravel, sandstone=medium=sand, shale=fine=clay. Each sedimentary environment has environmental conditions and geological processes: continental. The greatest volume of sediments accumulate and lithify in ocean basins: lithification is the process that hardens and binds sediment into. Sorting is the tendency for sediments to segregate according to their size as a result of variations in fluid velocity. Well sorted sand grains are all about the same size: lengthy transport in water or exposure to waves tends to sort grains into similarly sized groups.
