Textural and Mineralogical

Maturity
Clastic sediment is differentiated or evolved from its parent
rock by processes (such as erosion and transportation)
which act over a long period of time. As sediment is
subjected to such processes, easily-weatherable materials
such as clay are broken down leaving more stable minerals
(such as quartz). The degree of mineralogical maturity can
be determined by looking at the types of grains present. For
example, if the rock contains no feldspar (feldspar easily
weathers to clay), then either:
 the rock contained to feldspar to begin with, or
 the rock is made of lithified sediment which underwent
much weathering and/or transport, destroying the
unstable feldspar grains.

This diagram displays the percentages of detrital

constituents in sediments of varying grain size. It can be
seen, for example, that a sediment with grain size greater
than 9 phi units will contain mostly clays and micas, with
relatively low amount of monocrystalline quartz. On the
other hand, a sediment with grain size ~1 phi unit will
contain (on average) approximately 48% monocrystalline
quartz, 30% rock fragments + chert, 15% polycrystalline
quartz, and 7% feldspars.
Textural maturity is reflected by the sorting and roundness
of the grains. A rock which is texturally mature will contain
well sorted, well rounded grains. These features implying
large transport distance of the sediment, causing the grains
to become more well-rounded and well-sorted.

Back to Grain size

796 accesses since August 8, 1997.
Last Modified: Friday, 08-Aug-97 15:15:48 PDT

Geology 202
Introduction to Petrology
University of British Columbia