SEDIMENTS AND

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS:
SANDSTONES
 READING
• Prothero & Schwab, Ch. 5
• p. 76-81 Mineralogy of Sandstones
• p. 90-98 Classification of Sandstones
• (and review information on grain size,
shape and roundness, p. 81-90)
 Sandstone
• A major siliciclastic rock type

• 20-25% of all sedimentary rocks

• Composed of:
framework grains (1/16 - 2 mm)
ave. 58% quartz, 22% feldspar, 20% lithics
clay matrix
mineral cement
 Quartz
• Hard

• Weak cleavage

• Chemically
"inert“

• Monocrystalline
or
polycrystalline
(polycrystalline grain)
 Quartz
M

P Polycrystalline (P)
P Monocrystalline (M)

M with overgrowth
(formed during
diagenesis) P&S, Fig. 5.8
 Feldspar
• Fsp. ~60% of most rocks

• Fsp / qz ratio:
~3:1 in igneous + metamorphic rocks
~1:5 in sandstones

• Less hard than qz; cleavage, chemically

reactive
• Alters to:
clays (kaolinite, sericite)
carbonates
 Feldspars

Feldspar
crystal

Blue = pore space (crystal largely dissolved during deep burial)

 Feldspar

Calcite crystals
growing within
feldspar

Dissolution along
cleavage planes
 Volcanics
Lithic Grains
Many are fine-grained
rocks:
volcanics
slates
Chert (silica) Plutonic Igneous
carbonates

Many are resistant rocks:

Metamorphic Shale chert
quartzite

Proportion of lithics
decreases as grain size
decreases
P&S, Fig. 5.11
 Micas

• derived from granitic and metamorphic

rocks

• mainly muscovite, also biotite (less

stable)

• platy form -- settle slowly, with fines

 Heavy Minerals

• Tourmaline
• rarely >1% of a
• Apatite sandstone
• Garnet
• Zircon • density 3.0 - 5.2 --
• Rutile concentrated with
• Magnetite coarse quartz
• Cassiterite
• • Form placer deposits
Monazite
and paleoplacers
• rarely gold
Heavy Minerals
Extracting heavy minerals
from old beach sands,
Australia
Heavy Minerals
Heavy minerals
(titano-magnetite),
form black spreads in the
Shubenacadie river, NS
 Glauconite

• yellow-green mineral ("greensands")

• K-Ferric silicate

• an Fe-rich clay related to illite

• forms on marine shelves, under mildly reducing

conditions

• forms within shells and fecal pellets, and coats exposed

sediment surfaces
 Matrix

• Clay + silt deposited at same time as framework

grains

• clay minerals, silt-sized qz and fsp,

carbonaceous material, Fe oxides

• Note: some clays in sandstones are:

authigenic (formed within the rocks)
 Cement
Most common cements: • Precipitate form
• Quartz groundwaters
• Calcite during burial
• Dolomite
• Siderite • precipitation reflects
• Hematite local chemistry and
• Limonite nucleation factors
• Mn oxides
• Pyrite
• Gypsum
• Barite Black =
Pyrite grains
(cement)
 Grain Types and Grain Size
in gravel and coarse sand in fine
in sand + silt silt + clay
% of sediment

Grain Size
 SANDSTONE CLASSIFICATION
• Provides information about:
a) provenance
(source rocks from which components derived) b) transport
processes

• Concept of maturity: Stable Grains 100% = HIGHLY MATURE

Physically mature --
all grains well rounded
all grains same size
no matrix
all grains spherical

Chemically mature -- Matrix Unstable

100% Grains
all grains are quartz 100%
 SANDSTONE CLASSIFICATION
• Pettijohn’s classification

• Note:
• based on QFL triangles -- qz, fsp & lithics at corners
• quartzite and chert grouped with qz
• fsp and lithics cover most of the triangle area
• Pettijohn also uses matrix %
• no simple scheme for physical maturity
• needs thin section -- rarely possible in hand
specimen
 SANDSTONE CLASSIFICATION
Wackes

Arenites

Q
Quartz
Arenite

Arkosic
Lithic
Arenite F Arenite

L
1) Quartz Arenites
>95% quartz

Grains well sorted and

rounded, little matrix

Quartz concentrated
during prolonged,
deep weathering
(breaks down
feldspars)

Common where
weathered cratons
drowned by sea-
level rise
Quartz Arenites
 2) Arkosic Arenites
Abundant feldspar +
micas + heavies – low
maturity

Poorly sorted, angular

grains

Red colour common

Calcite cement common

Rapid exhumation, erosion and
burial of sediment near to the source
 3) Lithic
Arenites

Abundant -- 56%
of 718 samples: Himalaya Mountains
van Andel, 1958

Broad drainage
basins with
many rock
types available
Lithic Arenites (Volcanic)

Volcanic source areas,

Iceland:
black volcanic
sands

Ice cap above volcano 

Outburst flows

Braided river plain

 4) Wackes (greywackes)

• Matrix-rich (>15%), with sericite, chlorite, silt-

sized quartz

• May be rich in feldspars, lithics (commonly

volcanic), angular grains, poorly sorted, calcite
cement

• mainly turbidity current deposits near active

tectonic belts?

• Note: not all turbidity currents are matrix-rich

 Tectonic Classification
Major Tectonic
Settings

TOTAL QUARTZ

Qt

Link between
grain type and
tectonic setting:
Dickinson, 1979 L
F LITHICS
FELDSPAR
 Phalen Colliery: Gas Outbursts
from Sandstones

Adit on Phalen Coal,

New Waterford
“Disking” of core: gas release
Phalen Colliery: Gas Outburst

Alteration of
K-feldspar

Single Feldspar grain –

Totally altered
Phalen Colliery: Gas Outburst

Model for Feldspar

Diagenesis
During Deep Burial