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Chatper 6 Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sediment | small pieces of rock that are moved and deposited by water, wind, gravity, and glaciers. |
| Lithifaction | the physical and chemical processes that transform sediments into sedimentary rocks. |
| Cementation | process of sedimentary rock formation that occurrs when dissolved minerals precipitate out of groundwater and either a new mineral grows between the sediment grains or the same mineral grows between and over the grains |
| Bedding | horizontal layering in sedimentary rock that can range from a few millimeters to several meters thick. |
| Graded Bedding | type of bedding in which particles sized become progessively heavier and coarser toward the bottm layers. |
| Cross-bedding | depositional feature of sedimentary rock that form as inclined layers of sediment are carried forward across a horizontal surface. |
| Clastic sedimentary rock | most common type of sedimentary rock, formed from the abundant deposits of loose sediments that accumulate on Earth's surface; classified according to he size of their particles |
| Clastic | rock and mineral fragments produced by weathering and erosion and classified according to particle size and shape |
| Porosity | percentage of open spaces between grains in a material |
| Evaporite | the layers of chemical sedimentary rocks that from when concentrations of dissolved minerals in a body of water reach saturation due to the evaporation of water; cyrstal grains precipitate out of solution and settle to the bottm |
| Foliated | metamorphic rock, such as schist or gneiss, whose minerals are squeezed under high pressure and arranged in wavy layers and bands |
| Nonfoliated | metamorphic rocks like quartzite and marble, composed mainly of minerals that form with blocky crystal shapes |
| Regional metamorphism | process that affects larger areas of Earth's crust, producing belts classified as low, medium, or high grade, depending on pressure on the rocks, temperature, and depth below the surface |
| Contact metamorphism | local effect that occurs when molten rock meets solid rock |
| Hydrothermal metamorphism | occurs when very hot water reacts with rock, altering it mineralology and chemistry |
| Rock cycle | continuous, dynamtic set of processes by which rocks are changed into other types of rock. |