Sedimentary Rocks

"Grain Sized" loose rock derived from older rock- CLAY

• How sedimentary rocks are made
• Physical and chemical breakdown of rocks

Removal of weathered material

Action of gravity on large masses of rock or sediment.

Build-up of sediment, soil or rock on other landforms.

70 percent

gas and oil accumulations, coal, mineral deposits and other resources.

• Detrital Sediments
• Chemical Precipitates
• Organic Accumulations

• Oolitic Limestone, Sand, Silt
• (Detrital- Held together by cement/matrix)

Gypsum, Halite, Limestone

Coquina, Chalk, Coal, (some limestone)

"Layers" always present in sedimentary rocks. (Sometimes present in volcanic rock)

Small round features (fossil cyanobacteria)

Organic and Chemical sedimentary rocks.

Process of cementing rocks

Compacting of rocks (Clay)

Gypsum - which is used for drywall.

Evaporite minerals that can be extracted from earth by injecting hot water.

Precipitation of quartz, was used for Native American spear points.

Made from pressed plants, 300 or more years left of coal.

Thicker than 1km, accumulation of sedimentary rocks.

Down warping of the crust.

0 to 15 km thick

0 to 35 km thick

Process that results in changes to the crystallinity or bulk composition of a rock due to heat, pressure, shock or hydrothermal fluids.

25 to 30 C/km

• Regional
• Contact
• Burial
• Hydrothermal
• Shock
• Fault Zones

Occurs during mountain building (roots of the mountain)

Contact with magma chamber

Effects of geothermal gradient.

Contact with hot fluids.

Meteorite Impacts

Shearing of minerals and development of new materials. (two plates sliding against one another)

They become larger in size and change in orientation. Also, mineral grains change.

All metamorphic rocks have/come from a parent rock.

Marble (Kid rock)

Slate (Kid Rock)

Quartzite (Kid Rock)

Gneiss (Kid Rock)

Amphibolite (Kid Rock)

Determined by amount of heat and pressure

High Pressure, Low Heat

Low Pressure, High Heat

High Pressure, High Heat

Foliated, Weakly Foliated, or Non-Foliated.

• Stony Materials (most common)
• Stony Iron
• Iron-Nickel meteorite

4.4 Ga (Billion years)

• Alpha Decay
• Beta Decay
• Gamma-Rays

Loses two neutrons and protons. Helium Ion

An electron released when neutron decays into a proton.

High energy photons (packets of energy)

• Inner Core
• Outer Core
• Mantle
• Upper Mantle
• Crust

• -Seismic wave behavior and velocities
• -Diamond anvil presses
• -mantle xenoliths
• -meteorites

0 to 70km thick

• 2900 km thick
• 75 percent of earths volume.
• Mostly made of peridotite.

Increases with depth except at velocity zone (200 to 250km deep).

• hypothesized centrifugal force separated continents, continental drift hypothesis.
• (WRONG)

Plate tectonic hypothesis. Convection cells in the mantle drove plate tectonics.

• Spreading Centers
• Subduction Zones
• Deep Crustal Zones
• Mantle Plumes

Mostly Iron and Nickel

Always solid due to pressure.

Very old stable part of continental crust, usually in the middle of a continental plate.

Cores of Cratons that are exposed.

Craton covered by thin layer of sedimentary rock.

Linear belts of mountains at collisional boundaries.

Structural and sedimentary features where crust has been down-warped.

Crust and uppermost mantle

Most common at tectonic plate boundaries.

• Elastic
• Brittle
• Ductile

bend and rebound, causes earthquakes.

Faults and Fracturing

• Creates Folds;
• Strata can be folded
• Stress and strain (compressional forces)

• Anticline
• Syncline
• Domes
• Basins

"Closed" Direction

"Open" Direction

Low-angle reverse fault (results of compression)

Two tectonic plates rubbing against one another (shearing).

Vertical "drop" in land due to weight. (Explains why mountains have roots)

Emperor Seamount Chain, 43 Million year bend caused by absolute plate motion.