SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Origin, classification, and occurrence of sedimentary rocks Introduction

Sedimentary rocks form at low temperatures and pressures at the surface of Earth owing to deposition by water, wind, or ice. Sedimentary rocks are characterized particularly by the presence of layers, although layers are also present in some volcanic and metamorphic rocks, and by distinctive textures and structures. Many sedimentary rocks are also distinguished from igneous and metamorphic rocks by their mineral and chemical compositions and fossil content. Sedimentary rocks cover roughly three-fourths of Earths surface.

They have special genetic significance because their textures, structures, composition, and fossil content reveal the nature of past surface environments and life forms on Earth. Thus, they provide our only available clues to evolution of Earths landscapes and life forms through time. These characteristics of sedimentary rocks are in themselves reason enough to study sedimentary rocks. In addition, many sedimentary rocks contain minerals and fossil fuels that have economic significance. Petroleum, natural gas, coal, salt, phosphorus, sulfur, iron and other metallic ores, and uranium are examples of some of the extremely important economic products that occur in sedimentary rocks

Origin and classification of sedimentary rocks

>formation of source rocks >weathering >transportation >deposition >diagenesis >consolidation and lithification

Four fundamental kinds of constituents: >terrigenous siliciclastic particles, >chemical/biochemical constituents, >carbonaceous constituents, >and authigenic constituents

Terrigenous siliciclastic particles -gravel- to mud-size particles that are either individual mineral grains or aggregates of minerals (rock fragments or clasts). -The minerals are mainly silicates such as quartz, feldspars, and micas. -the siliciclastic grains are the constituents that make up common sandstones, conglomerates, and shales Chemical/biochemical constituents -formation of minerals such as calcite, gypsum, and apatite, as well as formation of calcareous and siliceous tests or shells of organisms. -these constituents are the materials that make up intrabasinal sedimentary rocks such as limestones, cherts, evaporites, and phosphorites.

Carbonaceous constituents -preserved, carbonized residues of terrestrial plants and marine plants and animals, together with the petroleum bitumens. -Humic carbonaceous materials -Sapropelic residues -Bitumens Authigenic constituents -Minerals precipitated from pore waters within the sedimentary pile during burial diagenesis. -These secondary, or authigenic, constituents may include silicate minerals such as quartz, feldspars, clay minerals, and glauconite and nonsilicate minerals such as calcite, gypsum, barite, and hematite.

Classification of sedimentary rocks

Major kinds of sedimentary basins and their tectonic setting

1.Divergent settings Terrestrial rift valleys: Rifts within continental crust commonly associated with bimodal volcanism. Modern example: Rio Grand rift (New Mexico) Proto-oceanic rift troughs: Incipient oceanic basins floored by new oceanic crust and flanked by young rifted continental margins. Modern example: Red Sea 2.Intraplate settings Continental rises and terraces: Mature rifted continental margins in intraplate settings at continentaloceanic interfaces. Modern example: East Coast of USA Continental embankments: Progradational sediment wedges constructed off edges of rifted continental margins. Modern example: Mississippi Gulf Coast Intracratonic basins: Broad cratonic basins floored by fossil rifts in axial zones. Modern example: Chad Basin (Africa)

Continental platforms: Stable cratons covered with thin and laterally extensive sedimentary strata. Modern example: Barents Sea (Asia) Active ocean basins: Basins floored by oceanic crust formed at divergent plate boundaries unrelated to arc-trench systems (spreading still active). Modern example: Pacific Ocean Oceanic islands, aseismic ridges and plateaus: Sedimentary aprons and platforms formed in intraoceanic settings other than magmatic arcs. Modern example: Emperor-Hawaii seamounts Dormant ocean basins: Basins floored by oceanic crust, which is neither spreading nor subducting (no active plate boundaries within or adjoining basin). Modern example: Gulf of Mexico

3.Convergent settings Trenches: Deep troughs formed by subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Modern example: Chile Trench Trench-slope basins: Local structural depressions developed on subduction complexes. Modern example: Central America Trench Forearc basins: Basins within arc-trench gaps. Modern example: Sumatra Intraarc basins: Basins along arc platform, which includes superposed and overlapping volcanoes. Modern example: Lago de Nicaragua Backarc basins: Oceanic basins behind intraoceanic magmatic arcs (including interarc basins between active and remnant arcs), and continental basins behind continentalmargin magmatic arcs without foreland foldthrust belts. Modern example: Marianas

Retroarc foreland basins: Foreland basins on continental sides of continental-margin arc-trench systems (formed by subduction-generated compression and/or collision). Modern example: Andes foothills Remnant ocean basins: Shrinking ocean basins caught between colliding continental margins and/or arc-trench systems, and ultimately subducted or deformed within suture belts. Modern example: Bay of Bengal Peripheral foreland basins: Foreland basins above rifted continental margins that have been pulled into subduction zones during crustal collisions (primary type of collision-related forelands). Modern example: Persian Gulf Piggyback basins: Basins formed and carried atop moving thrust sheets. Modern example: Peshawar Basin (Pakistan) Foreland intermontane basins (broken forelands): Basins formed among basement-cored uplifts in foreland settings. Modern example: Sierras Pampeanas basins (Argentina)

4.Transform settings Transtensional basins: Basins formed by extension along strike-slip fault systems. Modern example: Salton Sea (California) Transpressional basins: Basins formed by compression along strike-slip fault systems. Modern example: Santa Barbara Basin (California) (foreland) Transrotational basins: Basins formed by rotation of crustal blocks about vertical axes within strike-slip fault systems. Modern example: Western Aleutian forearc (?)

5.Hybrid settings Intracontinental wrench basins: Diverse basins formed within and on continental crust due to distant collisional processes. Modern example: Qaidam Basin (China) Aulacogens: Former failed rifts at high angles to continental margins, which have been reactivated during convergent tectonics, so that they are at high angles to orogenic belts. Modern example: Mississippi embayment Impactogens: Rifts formed at high angles to orogenic belts, without preorogenic history (in contrast with aulacogens). Modern example: Baikal rift (Siberia) (distal) Successor basins: Basins formed in intermontane settings following cessation of local orogenic or taphrogenic activity. Modern example: Southern Basin and Range (Arizona)

Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks

Sedimentary textures
Sedimentary texture encompasses three fundamental properties of sedimentary rocks: grain size, grain shape (form, roundness, and surface texture [microrelief] of grains), and fabric (grain packing and orientation). Grain size and shape are properties of individual grains. Fabric is a property of grain aggregates

Sedimentary structures

Bedding and bedforms Beds are tabular or lenticular layers of sedimentary rock having characteristics that distinguish them from strata above and below. Layers thinner than 1 cm are laminae. Beds are separated by bedding planes or bounding planes into units that may range widely in thickness.

-Laminated bedding

Sedimentary structures

Laminated sandstone lying above a massive sandstone unit that contains rip-up clasts. B. Close-up view of laminae in the laminated part of A

Graded bedding

Graded beds are strata characterized by gradual but distinct vertical changes in grain size -normal grading -reverse grading or inverse grading

Sedimentary structures

A. Graded bedding inMiocene deep-sea sandstone (core) from ODP Leg 127, Site 797, Japan Sea

B. Rhythmically bedded, graded turbidites from the Tyee Formation (Eocene), northern Oregon Coast Range.

-Massive bedding

Sedimentary structures

The term massive bedding is applied to beds of sedimentary rock that contain few or novisible internal laminae. Truly massively bedded sediments are rare.

Massive-bedded sandstone (upper part of photograph) lying above thin, parallelbedded siltstone and shale. Fluornoy Formation (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

-Cross-bedding
-are strata in which internal layers, or foresets, dip at a distinct angle to the surfaces that bound the sets of cross-beds. -Cross-bedding is called cross-lamination if thickness of the foresets is less than 10 mm. >tabular cross-bedding, having bounding surfaces that are planar >trough cross-bedding, having bounding surfaces that are curved >as festoon bedding, bedding that is markedly trough-shaped or scoop-shaped

Sedimentary structures

Three intersecting sets of small-scale trough cross-beds in fine, laminated sandstone

Multiple sets of small-scale planar cross-beds (between arrows) with tangential foresets.

Sedimentary structures

-Ripple cross-lamination
Ripple cross-lamination is a type of cross-stratification that has the general appearance of waves when viewed in outcrop sections cut normal to the wave (ripple) crests . Ripple cross-lamination forms when deposition takes place very rapidly during migration of current or wave ripples.

Ripple crosslamination (arrow)

Sedimentary structures

-Flaser and lenticular bedding

Flaser bedding is a special type of ripple crosslamination in which thin streaks of mud occur between sets of ripple laminae.

Lenticular bedding in tidal flats of the North Sea.

Flaser bedding in tidal-flat sediments of the North Sea.

Sedimentary structures

-Hummocky cross-stratification
Hummocky cross-stratification is a type of cross-stratification originally called truncated wave-ripple laminae by Campbell (1966). It was later renamed hummocky cross-stratification by Harms et al. (1975). This structure is characterized by undulating sets of cross-laminae that are both concave-up (swales) and convex-up (hummocks). The cross-bed sets cut into each other with curved erosional surfaces.

A. Hummocky cross-stratification in Coaledo Formation (Eocene) sandstones, southwest Oregon.

B. Detail of the erosional contact between underlying hummock and overlying draped laminae in a hummocky cross-stratified unit, Coaledo Formation.

-Ripple marks

Sedimentary structures

Ripples occur owing totraction transport of granular materials under either unidirectional current flow or oscillatory flow (wave action). They are most common in sand-size sediment but can occur in finer and coarser sediment.

Current-dominated

Wave-dominated OSCILLATION RIPPLES

CURRENT RIPPLES

COMBINED-FLOW RIPPLES

Plan-view shape of oscillation ripples

Deformation structures
Convolute bedding and lamination Convolute bedding, or convolute lamination, is the name applied to complexly folded or intricately crumpled beds or laminations that are commonly, although not invariably, confined to a single sedimentation unit. Strata above and below this unit may show little or no evidence of deformation.

Sedimentary structures

Convolute laminae in laminated siltstone overlying a thin mudstone unit. Elkton Siltstone(Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Flame structures
Flame structures are flame-shaped projections of mud that extend upward from a shale unit into an overlying bed of different composition, commonly sandstone. Individual flames may range in height from a few millimeters to several centimeters.

Multiple sets of small-scale flame structures in a thinly bedded and laminated siltstone mudstone sequence. Elkton Siltstone (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Ball and pillow structures and pseudonodules

The name ball and pillow structure (Potter and Pettijohn, 1977, p. 201) is applied to the basal portion of sandstone beds, which overlie shales, that are broken into masses of various sizes packed vertically and laterally in a mud matrix. These sand masses somewhat resemble the structure of pillow lavas and may have pillow, hassock, kidney, or ball shapes.

Sedimentary structures

Ball and pillow structure. The balls are composed of laminated fine sandstone and are enclosed within a thin mudstone layer. Coaledo Formation (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Synsedimentary folds, faults, and rip-up clasts

Unconsolidated sediment may move downslope under the influence of gravity as slumps, slides, or flows. Structures produced by such penecontemporaneous deformation may be caused by two types of movement. The first of these is a dcollment type of movement in which the lateral displacement is concentrated along a sole, producing beds that are tightly folded and piled into nappe-like structures. Such structures are referred to as synsedimentary folds. Slump structures of
this type may involve sediments in several beds, and the structures are commonly faulted.

Small-scale synsedimentary folds in a thick sand laminae (white) in a laminated and thinly bedded mudstonesandstone sequence. Elkton Siltstone (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Dish and pillar structures

Some sandstone and siltstone beds are characterized in crosssectional exposures by the presence of thin, dark-colored, subhorizontal, flat to concaveupward clayey laminations. In plan view, these features are polygonal, circular, oval, or elliptical. Because the shapes of these clayey laminations superficially resemble the shapes of saucers or other shallow dishes, they are called dish structures (e.g. Stauffer, 1967).
Dish structures (long arrow) and pillar structures (short arrow) in siliciclastic sediments of the Jackfork Group, southeast Oklahoma.

Sedimentary structures

Pillar structures
Commonly occur in association with dishes. They are vertical to near-vertical cross-cutting columns and sheets of structureless or swirled sand that cut through either massive or laminated sands that commonly also contain dish structures and convolute lamination. Pillars range in size from tubes a few millimeters in diameter to large structures greater than l m in diameter and several meters in length.

Sedimentary structures

Erosion structures: channels and scour-and-fill structures

Channels are sediment-filled troughs that show a U- or Vshape in cross-section and that cut across previously formed beds or laminations.
Scour-and-fill structures, also called cutand-fill structures, resemble channels but tend to be somewhat smaller, more asymmetrical in cross-sectional shape, and shorter in length. They may be filled with material that is either coarser or finer than the substrate into which they are cut.

Channel (arrow) in fine sandstone, filled with fine sand and pebbles. Coquille Formation (Pleistocene), southern Oregon coast.

Small channel filled with gravel, showing a lenslike form in cross-section. The sandstones at Flora Lake (Miocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Biogenic structures: stromatolitic bedding

Stromatolites are laminated structures commonly composed of fine silt- or clay-size, more rarely sand-size, carbonate sediment. They have also been reported in siliciclastic sediment, but such occurrences are rare. Some stromatolites are composed of nearly flat laminations that may be difficult to differentiate from laminations of other origins. Most stromatolites are hemispherical bodies made up of laminations that are curved, crinkled, or deformed to various degrees.

Stromatolites in limestones of the Helena Formation (Precambrian), Glacier National Park, Montana.

Sedimentary structures

Bedding-plane markings
Sole markings are particularly common, typically consisting of positive-relief casts and various kinds of irregular markings, especially on the soles of sandstones and other coarser-grained sedimentary rocks that overlie shales.

1 Bottom erosion by a current

2 Deposition starts

3 Burial (several beds)

4 Diagenesis (cementation)

5 Tilting and Emergence

5a Overturning and emergence

6 Weathering

6a Selective erosion

Suggested stages of development of sole markings owing to erosion of a mud bottom followed by deposition of coarser sediment. The diagram illustrates also how the sole markings appear as positive-relief features on the base of the infilling bed after tectonic uplift and subaerial weathering and suggests how sole markings can be used to tell top and bottom of overturned beds.

Sedimentary structures

Tool-formed erosional structures

Groove casts
The most common tool-formed structures are probably groove casts. These structures are elongate, nearly straight ridges that result from the infilling of grooves produced by some object dragged over a mud bottom in continuous contact with the bottom.

Large intersecting groove casts on the base of a graded turbidite sandstone.

Sedimentary structures

Bounce, brush, prod, roll, and skip marks

These markings are related in origin to groove casts, but they are produced by tools that make intermittent contact with the bottom rather than continuous contact. Brush and prod marks are positiverelief features produced by the infilling of small gouge marks.

Postulated development in a cohesive mud bottom of (A) bounce marks, (B) brush marks, (C) prod marks, (D) roll marks, and (E) skip marks, which formed by the action of tools making contact with the bottom in various ways. These tool-formed depressions are subsequently filled with coarser sediment to produce positive-relief casts.

Sedimentary structures

Flute casts
Flute casts are elongated welts or ridges that have at one end a bulbous nose that flares out toward the other end and merges gradually with the surface of the bed (Fig. 3.32). Flute casts tend to occur in swarms, with all of the flutes oriented in roughly the same direction, but they can occur singly.
Flute casts covering the entire base (sole) of a turbidite sandstone bed. Note also the large groove cast in the lower part of the photograph (running under the hammer). The paleocurrent direction is from the upper right toward the lower left. Hornbrook Formation (Cretaceous), northern California.

Sedimentary structures

Current crescents
These structures, also called obstacle scours, are common in modern environments, particularly sandy beach environments. They occur as narrow semicircular or horseshoe-shaped troughs, which form around small obstacles such as pebbles or shells owing to current scour. They can form also in muddy sediment.

Current crescents formed downflow from pebbles on a modern beach, southern Oregon coast. The knife (near center of photograph) is about 10 cm long.

Sedimentary structures

Sole markings generated by deformation:

load casts
Load casts are rounded knobs or irregular protuberances on the soles of sandstone beds that overlie shales. They differ in appearance from flute casts because they lack the regular form and orientation of flutes. Where load casts are present, they tend to cover the entire surface of the sole. They can range in size from a few centimeters to a few tens of centimeters, and the casts on a single sole may display considerable variation in size.

Load casts on the base of a large sandstone boulder. Some of the load casts may be modified organic traces. Unknown formation, southern Oregon coast. The knife (left side of photo) is about 10 cm long.

Sedimentary structures

Markings generated by organisms: trace fossils

Bed-surface markings attributed to the activities of fossil organisms have long been recognized. Such organically produced markings are now commonly called trace fossils, but they have been referred to also as ichnofossils and Lebensspuren.

Organic markings (trace fossils). A. Copious organic traces (arrows) on the base of a massive sandstone bed. Bateman Formation (Eocene), southwestern Oregon. B. Shallow burrows (arrows) that cut across laminated fine sandstone. Coaledo Formation (Eocene), southwestern Oregon.

Sedimentary structures

Sandy shore Semiconsolidated substrate LMW 200 m Bathyal zone 2000 m Abyssal zone
12 6 9 13 4 8 7 Rocky coast Sandy shore 11 10 16 15 Sublittoral zone 18 21 20 23 Bathyal zone Abyssal zone 14 17 26 22 24 25 Rocky coast

Sublittoral zone

5
1 2 3

19

Trypanites

Glossifungites

Skolithos

Cruziana

Zoophycos

Nereites

Schematic representation of the relationship of characteristic trace fossils to sedimentary facies and depth zones in the ocean. Borings of 1, Polydora; 2, Entobia; 3, echinoid borings; 4, Trypanites; 5,6, pholadid burrows; 7, Diplocraterion; 8, unlined crab burrow; 9, Skolithos; 10, Diplocraterion; 11, Thalassinoides; 12, Arenicolites; 13, Ophiomorpha; 14, Phycodes; 15, Rhizocorallium; 16, Teichichnus; 17, Crossopodia; 18; Asteriacites; 19; Zoophycos; 20, Lorenzinia; 21, Zoophycos; 22, Paleodictyon; 23, Taphrhelminthopsis; 24, Helminthoida,; 25, Spirohaphe; 26,Cosmorhaphe.

Sedimentary structures

Bedding-plane markings of miscellaneous origin

A variety of generally small-scale markings of miscellaneous origin can occur on the tops (mainly) of beds: these include mudcracks, syneresis cracks, raindrop and hailstone imprints, bubble imprints, rill marks, swash marks, and parting lineation.

Mudcracks are common in modern environments and may be

preserved on the top or bottom bedding surfaces of ancient sedimentary rocks as positive-relief fillings of the original cracks). They can occur in both siliciclastic and carbonate muds, and indicate subaerial exposure and desiccation. They may occur in association with

raindrop imprints and

hailstone imprints, which are craterlike pits with slightly raised rims
that are commonly less than 1 cm in diameter.

Syneresis cracks resemble mudcracks but tend to be discontinuous

and vary in shape from polygonal to spindle shaped or sinuous.

Sedimentary structures

Rill marks are small dendritic channels or grooves that form on beaches by discharge of pore waters at low tide by small streams debouching onto a sand or mud flat. They have very low preservation potential and are seldom found in ancient sedimentary rocks.
Swash marks are thin, arcuate lines or small ridges on a beach formed by concentrations of fine sediment and organic debris owing to wave swash; they mark the farthest advance of wave uprush. They likewise have low preservation potential . Parting lineation, also called current lineation, forms primarily on the bedding surfaces of parallel-laminated sandstones, although it is reported to form also on the backs of ripples and dunes. It consists of subparallel ridges and grooves a few millimeters wide and many centimeters long; the length of the ridges is generally 520 times greater than their width (Allen, 1982, vol. I, p. 261).

Sedimentary structures

Mudcracks on the upper surface of a Miocene mudstone bed, Bangladesh

Parting lineation in sandstone. Paleocurrent flow was approximately parallel to the bottom of the photograph.

Sedimentary structures

Other structures
Sandstone dikes are tabular bodies of
sandstone that fill fractures in any kind of host rock. They range in thickness from a few centimeters to 10 meters or more.
Sandstone sills are features of similar appearance and origin except that they are sand bodies that have been injected between beds of other rock.

Sandstone sills may be difficult to differentiate from

normally deposited sandstone beds unless they can be traced into sandstone dikes or traced far enough to show a cross-cutting relationship with other beds.

Sedimentary structures

Structures of secondary origin

Concretions are perhaps the most common secondary
structure. These structures are typically composed of calcite; however, concretions made of other minerals (e.g. dolomite, hematite, siderite, chert, pyrite, gypsum) are known also. Concretions form by precipitation of minerals around a center, building up a globular mass. Nodules are closely related to concretions. They are small, irregularly rounded bodies that commonly have a warty or knobby surface. They generally have no internal structure except the preserved remnants of original bedding or fossils. Sand crystals are very large euhedral or subhedral crystals of calcite, barite, or gypsum that are filled with detrital sand inclusions (Fig. 3.41). They appear to form during diagenesis by growth in incompletely cemented sands. Rosettes are radially symmetric, sand-filled crystalline aggregates or clusters of crystals that somewhat resemble the shape of a rose.

Sedimentary structures Color banding, sometimes referred to as Liesegang banding, is a type of rhythmic layering resulting from the precipitation of iron oxide in fluid-saturated sediments to form thin, closely spaced, commonly curved layers. Layers having various shades of red, yellow, or brown alternate with white or cream layers. Stylolites are suture- or stylus-like seams, as seen in cross-section, in generally homogeneous, thick-bedded sedimentary rocks (Fig. 3.42). The seams result from the irregular, interlocking penetration of rock on each side of the suture. They are typically only a few centimeters thick, and they are generally marked by concentrations of difficultly soluble constituents such as clay minerals, iron oxide minerals, and fine organic matter. Stylolites are most common in limestones, but occur also in sandstones, quartzites, and cherts.

Cone-in-cone structure is a type of structure rarely mentioned in recent

sedimentological literature. It consists of nested sets of small concentric cones, composed, in most examples, of calcium carbonate, with individual cones ranging in height mainly from 10 mm to 1 cm. Sides of the cones are slightly ribbed or fluted, and some have fine striations that resemble slickensides. Cone-in-cone structure generally occurs in thin, persistent layers of fibrous calcite, commonly in association

Sedimentary structures

Sharp-pealed, sutured stylolites in a polished limestone slab. Age and location unknown. University of Oregon collection

Large specimen showing typical cone-in-cone structure. Age and locality of specimen unknown