Sedimentary Rocks: Nature’s Layered Storybooks!

 Hello Rock Stars! 🪨

Today we'll explore a special type of rock called sedimentary rock — and it turns out, these rocks tell incredible stories about Earth’s past!

Here’s what to know:

Sedimentary rocks are layers of rock that form when sediments (pieces of rock) accumulate, transported by wind, water or ice.

What you will learn

• The Earth's surface is fragmented by weathering.
• Fragments of the Earth are moved by erosion.
• The fragments are eventually deposited elsewhere through a process called sedimentation.
  

How are sedimentary rocks formed?

5 phases: WEDCC

                        1. Weathering:

The process by which the Earth's surface breaks up into small piece

2. Erosion/erosion:

When weathering breaks the Earth's surface into small pieces, those pieces are moved around by erosion. Erosion is the process that moves fragments from one place to another. Fragments are transported by wind, water or ice.

3. Deposition (also called sedimentation)

Pieces of soil transported by erosion are deposited somewhere else. Sedimentation means depositing the fragments somewhere else.

4. Compaction

                        The sediments become compacted as more and more layers accumulate on top.

                        5. Cementtion

                            Process where dissolved minerals crystallize and glue sediment particles together                                        forming a larger mass, creating sedimentary rock.