Sedimentary Petrology: An Introduction to The Origin of Sedimentary Rocks

Description

Sedimentary petrology is the study of their occurrence, composition, texture, and other overall characteristics, while sedimentology emphasizes the processes by which sediments are transported and deposited. Sedimentary petrography involves the classification and study of sedimentary rocks using the petrographic microscope. Sedimentary petrology also is concerned with the small-scale structural features of sediments and sedimentary rocks. Features that can be conveniently seen in a specimen held in the hand are within the domain of sedimentary petrology. These features include the geometrical attitude of mineral grains with respect to each other, smallscale cross stratification, the shapes and interconnections of pore spaces, and the presence of fractures and veinlets. Sedimentary petrology studies the mineralogical and geochemical composition of sediments and sedimentary rocks to determine depositional and post-depositional processes of formation. Stratigraphy uses physical, geophysical, paleontological, and geochemical techniques to describe the natural subdivisions of sedimentary and volcanic strata, their distribution, their chronological succession, and the structure and history of the crust. This book aims to provide a concise account of their composition, mineralogy, textures, structures, diagenesis and depositional environments. The text has been revised where necessary and the reference and further reading lists brought up-to-date.