Three types of rocks exist in the Earths crust

and at its surface :

1.
2.
3.

Igneous rocks
Metamorphic rocks
Sedimentary rocks

Rocks are naturally occurring combinations of

one or more minerals, with each mineral
retaining its own discrete characteristics within
the rock.

Minerals are the naturally occurring elements

or chemical compounds that comprise the soil
and rock materials.
Most rocks are aggregates composed of two or
more minerals.

Rocks that solidified from

molten rock material (magma)
are called igneous rocks (from
the Latin ignis, or fire).
As magma cools, the ions that
compose it arrange themselves
into orderly patterns during a
process called crystallization.
Igneous rocks are the most
abundant rocks on the earths
crust, making up about 64.7% of
the Earths crust.

Two groups of igneous rocks:

a) Igneous rocks that form
when molten rock solidifies at
the surface are classified as
extrusive, or volcanic rocks.
b) Igneous rocks that form at
depth (deep-seated) are termed
intrusive, or plutonic rocks.

Igneous rocks are most often classified by

their texture and mineral composition.
The term texture is a measure of the overall
size, shape, and arrangement of its
interlocking crystals.
The most important factor affecting texture
is the rate at which magma cools.

Metamorphic rocks form from preexisting

rocks (either igneous, sedimentary, or other
metamorphic rocks) that have been altered by
the agents of metamorphism, which include
heat, pressure, and chemical active fluids.
Metamorphism (change form) is a process that
leads to change in mineralogy, texture, and
often the chemical composition of rocks.
The changes that occur in metamorphosed
rocks are textural as well as mineralogical.
Making up 27.4% of the Earths crust.

Metamorphism most often

occurs in one of three
settings:
1. Contact or thermal
metamorphism, which
occurs where rocks are
heated by direct or close
contact with magma.
Most contact metamorphic
rocks are fine-grained,
dense tough rocks of
various chemical
compositions.

2. Hydrothermal metamorphism results from the

interaction of a rock with high-temperature
fluids, producting metamorphic and
metasomatic reactions that depend upon
temperature and compositional differences
between the country rock and the invading fluid.
3. Regional metamorphism, which occurs over
extensive areas of rock are subjected to directed
pressures and high temperatures associated with
large-scale deformation, generally in an area of
plate convergence.

Metamorphic Rock Classification:

1. Foliated rocks
SHALE

SLATE
PHYLLITE

(sedimentary rock)

SCHIST

GNEIS

2. Nonfoliated rocks:
Marble is a coarse, crystalline
metamorphic rock whose parent
was limestone or dolostone.
Quartzite is a very hard
metamorphic rock formed from
quartz sandstone.
Hornfels is a metamorphic rock
formed next to intrusions.

Sedimentary rock consists of sediment that has

been lithified into solid rock.
Sediment from the Latin sedimentum, meaning
settling. Sediment consists of fragments of solid
material derived from pre-existing rock, the
remains of organisms, or the direct
precipitation of dissolved minerals from
solution in water.
Although sedimentary rocks account for about
7.9% by volume of the Earths crust, however,
75% of all rocks exposed are sedimentary.

Sedimentology encompasses the study of

sedimentary processes and sedimentary rocks
[included modern sediments such as sand, mud
(silt), and clay].
Sedimentary Process:
1.

Erosion and Transportation

All rocks including igneous, metamorphic and

sedimentary that are exposed to the elements
of wind, rain, heat and cold eventually give
way to wear and tear and are eroded.

Some are simply broken up into small pieces by

running water and frost while others are
dissolved slowly as weak acids in ground water
react with the minerals contained within the
rocks.
In either case, the debris or sediment, is
gradually carried downhill by the forces of
gravity and running water.
As the sediment is washed further and further
"downstream", it is broken into smaller and
smaller pieces.

Eventually, these rock fragments are deposited

in sediment traps such as ponds or lakes.
A large depressed area in which a lot of
sediment has been or is being deposited is
called a sedimentary basin.
During transport, the sedimentary particles
become sorted by size and density. This means
that the larger and heavier fragments will settle
faster than the lighter ones.

The very smallest particles (fine sand and mud

particles) can be carried hundreds of kilometres
out to sea before settling to the bottom in the
quiet deeper waters.
The larger pieces (sand, gravel and boulders)
will be deposited closer to the shore such as
along beaches.
Sedimentary rocks that are formed primarily
from fragments of other rocks are called clastics.

Clastic sedimentary rock conglomerate

The flowing waters also contain dissolved

minerals such as calcium and salt. These
minerals will eventually come out of solution
and form precipitates (solids) when the
conditions are right.
2. Deposition/ Sedimentation

As sediment is continuously dumped into the

ocean, it gradually sinks to the bottom and
starts to form layers.

Coarser, heavier material (gravel) is deposited

close to the shore and finer grained sediment
(fine sand and clay particles) is deposited
further out, in the deeper water.
Varying the water depth and environmental
conditions of an area results in different types
of sedimentary layers being deposited in the
area at different times.
The result is that in any given area there can be
many different layers, containing different
kinds of sedimentary rock.

Turning sediment into sedimentary rock:

A great deal of change can occur to sediment
from the time it is deposited until it becomes a
sedimentary rock.
Diagenesis refers to all of the physical, chemical,
and biological changes that occur after
sediments are deposited and during and after
lithification.
Diagenesis includes lithification, the processes
by which unconsolidated sediments are
transformed into solid sedimentary rock.

Most sedimentary rocks are lithified by means

of compaction and/or cementation.
Compaction occurs when the weight of
overlying materials compresses the deeper
sediment.

Cementation, the most important process by which

sediments are converted to sedimentary rock,
occurs when soluble cementing materials, such as
calcite, silica, and iron oxide, are precipitated onto
sediment grains, fill open spaces, and join the
particles.

Sediment Texture:
The vast majority of sediments are detrital.
They are composed of transported solids
fragments, or detritus, produced by mechanical
weathering or released by erosion from
preexisting rocks.
Detrital particles are deposited when the
transporting medium loses its capacity to carry
the sediment farther.
Sediment texture depends on the source rocks
of the sediment particles, the energy of the
medium that transported them, and their
environment of deposition.

During transport, sediment grains undergo

sorting, a process by which they are carried or
deposited selectively, based on the energy of their
transport medium and the grains size, density,
and shape.
A well-sorted deposit consists of particles of
one size; a poorly sorted deposit contains
particles of widely varying sizes.

Rounding Relative sphericity.

Sediment grains start out as angular grains.
With transport, sediments become more
spherical.
Well-rounded long transport distances
Angular negligible transport

Concept of maturity:
1. Physically mature
All grains well rounded/ spherical
All grains same size
No matrix

2. Chemically mature
All grains are quartz.
Unstable minerals (feldsfars, micas) are removed with
transport and by chemical weathering.

Classification of Sedimentary Rocks

Can be divided into two major groups:
detrital/ clastic and chemical.
Detrital (clastic) sedimentary rocks:
All detrital rocks have a clastic texture, which
consists of discrete fragments and particles
that are cemented or compacted together.
Classification depends on their particle sizes
rather than the composition of their particles.
Common detrital rocks include
conglomerate/ breccia, sandstone, and shale.

Conglomerate

Breccia

Sandstone

Shale

Classification of Sedimentary Rocks

Classification of clastic rocks according to texture

Grain Size

Gravel size >2mm

Sand size 2mm 0.0625 mm

Composition

Fragments or any
rock type - quartz,
quartzite, and chert
dominant
Mostly quartz
Mostly feldspar

Silt size 00039 to

0.0625 mm
Clay size <0.0039 mm

Shape/Description

ROCK NAME

Rounded

Conglomerate

Angular

Breccia

Relatively uniform
grain size

Quartz
Sandstone

Pink K-Feldspar
present

Arkosic
Sandstone

Quartz grains,
feldspar grains, clay
minerals
Clay minerals

Fissile

Shale

Clay minerals

Non-fissile

Claystone

Siltstone

Chemical sedimentary rocks:

The primary basis in the chemical group is
their mineral composition.
There are two kinds of chemical sediments:
inorganic, and biogenic.
Inorganic chemical-sedimentary rocks
precipitate directly from water, usually when
the water evaporates or undergoes a significant
temperature change.

They include inorganic limestone, evaporites,

chert, and dolostone.
Inorganic limestones include travertine and
oolitic limestone.
Evaporites include halite (rock salt) and
gypsum (rock gypsum).
Oolitic limestone

Grain Size

Composition

Shape/Description

ROCK
NAME

<2mm

Mostly calcium
carbonate
(CaCO3)
Fizzes with
cold dilute HCl

Spherical grains like

tiny beads with
concentric laminations

Oolitic
Limestone

Banded

Travertine

Cryptocrystallin Variety of
e
Quartz (SiO2)

Scratches glass

Chert

Fine to coarse
crystalline

Gypsum
(CaSO42H2O)

Can be scratched with

fingernail

Rock Gypsum

Fine to coarse
crystalline

Halite (NaCl)

Salty taste

Rock Salt

Coarse
crystalline

Biogenic chemical-sedimentary rocks form when

organisms extract dissolved compounds from water,
convert them into biological hard parts (such as shells
and skeletons), and subsequently deposit them as
sediment when they die.
They include biogenic limestone, biogenic chert,
coquina and coal.

Grain Size

Composition

Mostly calcium
carbonate
(CaCO3)
Fizzes with cold
dilute HCl

Muddy matrix with

fossils
>2mm
<0.0625 mm

Shape/Description

Fossiliferous Limestone
(Wackstone)
Shells or shell
fragments poorly
cemented to form
porous, earthy rock)
<0.0039 mm
Shells or shell
fragments well
cemented to form dense
rock
Dull brown and plant- Porous and easy to
like
break apart in plant
fragments
Woody appearance,
light weight
Highly altered plant
Black, dense and brittle
remains (Carbon)
or porous and sooty

ROCK NAME

Coquina
Chalk

Micrite
(Calcareous
Mudstone)
Peat

Lignite
Bituminous
Coal

Depositional Environments:
Sedimentary environments are
those places where sediment
accumulates (or deposited).
They are grouped into
continental, marine, and
transitional (coastal)
environments.

Continental environments
are those environments
which are present in
continents (alluvial fan,
fluvial, lacustrine, desserts
and swamps).
Transitional environments
are those environments at
or near the transition
between the land and the
sea (deltas, beaches and
barrier islands, lagoons
tidal flats).

Marine environments are those environments

in the seas or oceans (reefs, continental shelf,
continental slop and continental rise).
Each is characterized by certain physical,
chemical, and biological conditions.
A sedimentary facies is the set of unique
properties that distinguish a rock in a given
layer from surrounding rocks formed in
different depositional settings at the same
time.

Sedimentary Structures:
Sedimentary rocks form as layer upon layer of
sediment accumulates in various depositional
environments.
This layers, called strata, or beds, are the single
most characteristic feature of sedimentary rocks.

Separating the strata are bedding

plane. Changes in the grain size or in
the composition of the sediment can
create bedding plane.
The thickness of beds ranges from
microscopically thin to tens of meters
thick.
Cross-bedding refers to sediment
layers that are oriented at an angle to
the underlying sets of beds. It is most
characteristic of sand dunes, river
delta, and certain stream channel
deposits.

Graded bedding when the particles

within a single sedimentary layer
gradually change from coarse at the
bottom to the fine at the top.
Graded beds are most characteristic
of rapid deposition from water
containing sediment of varying
sizes.
The deposition of graded bed is
most often associated with a
turbidity current, a mass of
sediment-choke water that is denser
than clear water and that moves
downslope.

Ripple marks are small waves of

sand that develop on the surface of
a sedimentary layer by the action
of moving water or air.

Mud cracks occurs at the top of a

sediment layer when muddy
sediment dries and contracts.

Stratigraphy is the study that deals

with the formation, composition,
sequence, and correlation of
stratified rocks.
Rock layers were studied since the
time of Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 1027).
He was the first to outline the law
of superposition of strata.
Sedimentary layers are deposited in a
time sequence, with the oldest on the
bottom and the youngest on the top.

Grand Canyon Rock

Layers

Thus the goal of any stratigraphic analysis is to

establish the temporal sequence of sedimentary
rocks in the area under investigation.
Petroleum exploration without stratigraphic
analysis degrades to simply drilling the largest
structures seen on seismicwithout
attempting to determine whether the source,
reservoir, and seal exist.
Stratigraphy includes two related subfields:
lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy.

Lithostratigraphy, or lithologic stratigraphy,

is deals with the physical lithologic, or rock
type, change both vertically in layering or
bedding of varying rock type and laterally
reflecting changing environments of
deposition, known as facies (a body of rock
with specified characteristics) change.
Lithostratigraphic correlation should only
be applied with great care, and only within
a well-defined biostratigraphic and/or
sequence stratigraphic framework.

Biostratigraphy or paleontologic stratigraphy

is based on fossil evidence in the rock layers.
Strata from widespread locations containing
the same fossil fauna and flora are correlatable
in time.
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of
animals, plants, and other organisms from the
remote past.
Biologic stratigraphy was based on William
Smith's principle of faunal succession.

Principle of faunal succession states that fossils

succeed each other vertically in a specific,
reliable order that can be identified over wide
horizontal distances.

Correlation:
Matching rocks or
to fit together
sedimentary strata
of similar age
found in different
areas.
Correlation
involves
comparing the
rocks and fossils in
separate rock
exposures.

Sequent Stratigraphy was developed from

seismic stratigraphy in the 1970s by Exxon.
Examines sedimentary packages over a large
area (entire sedimentary basin).
Sequence stratigraphy focuses on the
relationships between sequences of
conformable layers and the unconformities that
bound them. The strata patterns were as
distinctive as the biostratigraphic correlations.

It can provide a predictive tool for

determining the likely presence of
source rocks, and the distribution of
reservoirs and seals.
The basic unit in sequence stratigraphy
is the sequence (succession of strata
bounded by unconformities).
Unconformities: represent a gap in the
rock record.
Smaller units of subdivision are beds
and laminae.

A marine
transgression is a
geologic event during
which sea level rises
relative to the land
and the shoreline
moves toward higher
ground, resulting in
flooding.
The opposite of
transgression is
regression, in which
the sea level falls
relative to the land
and exposes former
sea bottom.

Generalized Stratigraphy of Malay Basin

Stratigraphy of Zagros Foreland Sediment Iran