Sedimentary Bedrock
Sedimentary rock is the easiest rock type to teach students because they see sedimentary processes going on around them every day. Sediments when they become rock are called sedimentary rocks. Sediments become rock by chemical and physical processes called lithification (from the Latin-Greek word "lith" meaning "rock").
| Chemical Processes | Physical Processes |
Cemented by: |
Heat |
| Changed chemical structure | Pressure |
| More than one chemical process | Both heat and pressure |
Both chemical and physical processes |
|
HINT: Almost always a combination of chemical and physical processes in the presence of fluids such as water turn sediments into sedimentary rocks.
- Sedimentary rock looks very much like the sediments it is made of except that sedimentary rock is firm and coherent and sediments are not.
- Sediments usually have layering.
- Sedimentary rock usually has layering.
- Sediments usually have void spaces between grains.
- Sedimentary rock has less void space.
- Sediments overlie bedrock like pieces of a blanket.
- Sedimentary rock is bedrock, a part of the crust of the Earth.