Earth Science
Earth Materials
Sedimentary Rocks
Study Tip
Have you ever wondered if there was a “rock cycle”? Rocks can be broken down into small pieces, but these pieces can also be pressed together to form new rocks, called sedimentary rocks.
Sedimentary Rock Composition
- Sandstone is one of the common types of sedimentary rocks that form from sediments.
- Sediments may include:
- Fragments of other rocks worn down into small pieces: sand, silt, or clay.
- Organic Materials: remains of organisms.
- Chemical Precipitates: materials left behind after water evaporates from a solution.
Study Tip
Have you ever wondered if there was a “rock cycle”? Rocks can be broken down into small pieces, but these pieces can also be pressed together to form new rocks, called sedimentary rocks.
Study Tip
The same way a person may cast a shadow over another person when they stand under the sun, planets or celestial bodies that have aligned themselves cast shadows over one another as well.
Erosion
- Rocks at the surface undergo mechanical and chemical weathering.
- Weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces.
- Mechanical weathering breaks the rocks apart.
- Chemical weathering dissolves the less stable minerals.
- Erosion: Sediments are removed and transported by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
- Landslides drop large piles of sediment.
- Glaciers leave large piles of sediments.
- Wind can only transport sand and smaller particles.
Sedimentary Rock Formation
- The type of sediment that is deposited will determine the type of sedimentary rock that can form.
- The environment determines different colors of sedimentary rock.
- Red rocks where oxygen is present.
- Darker sediments when environment is oxygen poor.
Water erodes the land surface in Alaska’s Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
Sedimentary Rock Formation
- The type of sediment that is deposited will determine the type of sedimentary rock that can form.
- The environment determines different colors of sedimentary rock.
- Red rocks where oxygen is present.
- Darker sediments when environment is oxygen poor.
Concept Check
- What are some materials that can form sedimentary rocks?
- What are some mediums of erosion?
- How are sediments moved from place to place?
