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Greywacke or graywacke (German grauwacke, signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix.
Igneous rock, with gray groundmass and white phenocrysts marked. Orthoclase phenocrysts within a finer-grained matrix of a granite porphyry. The matrix or groundmass of a rock is the finer-grained mass of material in which larger grains, crystals, or clasts are embedded.
Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting any rock type—sedimentary rock, igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock—to different temperature and pressure conditions than those in which the original rock was formed. This process is called metamorphism, meaning to "change in form". The result is a profound change in physical properties ...
Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) of the Earth's crust by volume. [1] Igneous rocks form about 15% of the Earth's current land surface. [note 1] Most of the Earth's oceanic crust is made of igneous rock. Igneous rocks are also geologically important because:
Conglomerate (/ k ən ˈ ɡ l ɒ m ər ɪ t /) is a sedimentary rock made up of rounded gravel-sized pieces of rock surrounded by finer-grained sediments (such as sand, silt, or clay). The larger fragments within conglomerate are called clasts, while the finer sediment surrounding the clasts is called the matrix.
Cumulate rock – Igneous rocks formed by the accumulation of crystals from a magma either by settling or floating. Flow banding – Bands or layers that can sometimes be seen in rock that formed from magma; Fractional crystallization (chemistry) – Method for refining substances based on differences in their solubility
Bentonite layers from an ancient deposit of weathered volcanic ash tuff in Wyoming Gray shale and bentonites (Benton Shale; Colorado Springs, Colorado). Bentonite (/ ˈ b ɛ n t ə n aɪ t / BEN-tə-nyte) [1] [2] is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite.
Sedimentary rocks are formed through the gradual accumulation of sediments: for example, sand on a beach or mud on a river bed. As the sediments are buried they get compacted as more and more material is deposited on top. Eventually the sediments will become so dense that they would essentially form a rock. This process is known as lithification.