How Layers of Rocks

HOW LAYERS OF ROCKS
(STRATIFIED ROCKS)
ARE FORMED
EARTH SCIENCE
✓ Sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks are the
three basic types of rocks. Physical changes, such as
melting, cooling, eroding, compacting, or deforming,
are responsible for the formation of each of these
rocks that are part of the rock cycle. The rock cycle is
a concept that describes how the three fundamental
rock types are related and how earth’s activities
convert a rock from one kind to another over geologic
time. The continual recycling of rocks is due to plate
tectonic action, as well as weathering and erosional
processes.
✓ Igneous rocks are formed by melting, cooling, and
crystallization of other rocks and are results of volcanic
activity, hot spots, and melting that occurs in the
mantle.
✓ Sedimentary rocks are formed by weathering, erosion,
deposition, compaction, and cementation of other
rocks that are mostly found in areas where water,
wind, or gravity deposit sediments.
✓ Metamorphism is the process through which existing
rock transforms into new types of rock, resulting in
metamorphic rocks.
PROCESSES IN THE FORMATION OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Most of the rocks exposed at the surface of earth are sedimentary which is
formed from particles of older rocks that have been broken apart by water
or wind. The gravel, sand, and mud settle to the bottom in rivers, lakes, and
oceans. These sedimentary particles may bury living and dead animals and
plants on the lake or sea bottom.
Sedimentary rocks are those rocks formed from sediment- material

consisting of sand, gravel, mud, ions in solution derived from pre-existing
rocks or organic debris derived from living organisms.
With the passage of time and the accumulation of more particles, and
often with chemical changes, the sediments at the bottom of the pile
become rock. Gravel becomes a rock called conglomerate, sand
becomes sandstone, mud becomes mudstone or shale, and the animal
skeletons and plant pieces can become fossils.
Stratification is the process leading to the formation or
deposition of layers, especially of the sedimentary rocks. The
layers range from several millimeters to many meters in thickness
and vary greatly in shape. Strata may range from thin sheets
that cover many square kilometers to thick lens like bodies that
extend only a few meters lateral.
Referring on Figure 3, you may recognize this as sedimentary

rock. It. is a rock that is formed by layers of sediment being laid
down over the course of time. These sediment layers create the
banding pattern visible in stratified rock. The sediments
themselves also teach us about the environment in which the
rock is formed.
How layers of rocks are formed
The rock layers are formed by erosion and weathering of mountains and
the particles are transported and deposited in the sedimentary basin, then
the sediment particles are cemented over hundreds of years to form
layers. These sediments are deposited horizontally by gravity.
Layered rocks may also result from successive lava flow or from the
formation of extrusive igneous rocks. We study Earth's history by studying
the record of past events that is preserved in the rocks. Most of the rocks
which are exposed at the surface of the earth are called sedimentary
rocks.
Slight changes in particle size or composition result in the formation of
layers, also called beds in the rock. Layering, or bedding, is the most
obvious feature of sedimentary rocks.
Sedimentary rocks are formed particle by particle and bed by bed, and
the layers are piled one on top of the other. Thus, in any sequence of
layered rocks, a given bed must be older than any bed on top of it.
Law of Superposition is a basic law of geochronology, stating
that in any undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers,
the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on bottom, each
layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the
one above it. Because at any one location, it indicates the
relative ages of rock layers and the fossils in them.
Law of Original Horizontality was first proposed by Danish
geological pioneer Nicholas Steno in the 17th century. The law
states that layers of sediment were originally deposited
horizontally under the action of gravity. It suggests that all rock
layers are originally laid down (deposited) horizontally and can
later be deformed. This allows us to infer that something must
have happened to the rocks to make them tilted. This includes
mountain building events, earthquakes, and faulting.

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HOW LAYERS OF ROCKS

Sedimentary rocks are those rocks formed from sediment- material

Referring on Figure 3, you may recognize this as sedimentary

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