http://www.museumwales.ac.

uk/mineralogy-of-wales/sedimentary-minerals/
Like other rock-types, sedimentary rocks are composed of a variety of minerals.
There are two broad groups of sedimentary rocks, clastic (or detrital) sediments
which accumulate from fragments of pre-existing rocks and minerals, and chemical
sediments or precipitates. Sedimentary rocks may be unconsolidated or
consolidated, and the transformation from the former to the latter is known as
diagenesis, a process during which further minerals form.

A thick sequence of sandstone beds deposited as sand-rich sediment approximately

520 million years age. St. Tudwals Peninsula, Ll?n, North Wales. Photo J.M.
Hork.

Minerals in clastic sediments

Clastic sedimentary rocks are those made up of detritus that has been eroded by the
actions of wind, water and ice from pre-existing rocks of all types. Such rocks are
widespread in Wales, with vast thicknesses of sandstones, composed dominantly of
quartz grains, and clay mineral-rich mudstones. Whereas the bulk of minerals

making up clastic sedimentary rocks are common rock-forming species, such as

quartz, feldspar and mica, both common and minor minerals in an eroding rock may
end up in the resulting sediment. Minerals that have been transported as detrital
grains, to end up in a sedimentary rock, are referred to as allogenic.

Thin section of sandstone dominated by angular quartz grains surrounded by brown

hematite cement. Long thin detrital grains of mica are also present. Width of image
2.4 mm. Old Red Sandstone, Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey. National Museum of
Wales.

Red sandstone from the Senni Beds, Old Red Sandstone succession, Brecon
Beacons. National Museum of Wales.
Studying the less common minerals present in sedimentary rocks can provide
valuable information regarding the source rocks that were eroded, the direction in
which the sediment was transported by ice, water or wind, or the extent of ancient
river or glacier systems. For instance, the minerals andalusite, staurolite and
cordierite are not found in metamorphic rocks in Wales but have been described as
detrital grains in glacial sediments, indicating that the sediments were produced by
erosion of such rocks in Scotland or Ireland, then transported a considerable
distance and deposited in Wales.

Two gold nuggets (NMW 99.33G.M.1 & 99.33G.M.2), with maximum dimensions 24
mm and 29 mm, respectively, from the Afon Mawddach, Gwynedd. National
Museum of Wales.
Some detrital minerals are of economic importance, because gravity and water
action are very efficient at sorting mineral grains according to their density. The end
result is that "heavy" minerals tend to become concentrated, often in layers close to,

or on, the bedrock underlying a river. Such deposits are termed placers and are an
important source of gold, tin and many other minerals worldwide. In Wales, placergold deposits, now virtually exhausted, were formerly worked in the Dolgellau area.

Sedimentary rocks formed from Chemical precipitation

Chemical sediments result from precipitation of dissolved substances from sea or
lake water. The most common products are limestones, deposited by the
precipitation of calcium carbonate as calcite. Precipitation may occur directly from
water or involve organisms in biochemical processes.
The most widespread limestones in Wales are those of Lower Carboniferous age,
which outcrop across Clwyd, and also in southern Wales around the margins of the
coalfield. Other important limestones include Silurian reef-deposits in the Welsh
Borderland and Lower Jurassic muddy limestones exposed along the Bristol
Channel coast.

Microscope image of fossil fragments in Carboniferous Limestone. These fragments

are dark in appearance as they have been partially replaced by iron oxide
subsequent to deposition and diagenesis. Rhiwbina Limestone. Specimen NMW
20.361.GR.110b, National Museum of Wales.

View looking north towards Creigiau Eglwyseg (Eglwyseg Crags), Llangollen, from
Castell Dinas Bran. Carboniferous Limestone deposited around 330 million years
ago. Photo A. Haycock.
In some limestones, magnesium substitutes for the calcium in calcite to form the
mineral dolomite. Such rocks are termed dolomites or dolomitic limestones. Iron
carbonate may also accumulate, particularly in sedimentary environments where
much organic matter is present. This produces beds of fine-grained, heavy clayironstone which is particularly common in the South Wales Coalfield, where it was
mined as an iron ore.
Also included within chemical sediments are evaporite deposits. The minerals within
evaporites form by precipitation from solutions by evaporation - usually in arid
environments such as desert salt-lakes. The most common minerals present are
gypsum, anhydrite and halite (rock-salt), sometimes in sufficient quantity to be
commercially mined. Evaporites occur within Triassic rocks exposed along the South
Wales coast near Cardiff, where the beds of gypsum form conspicuous white layers
in the red marls. All of these precipitated minerals have formed in place, without
transport, and are referred to as authigenic.

Close up view of alabaster (gypsum) pod eroded from the cliff. The alabaster can
vary in colour from white through pale pink to salmon pink. The black zones are
areas of sediment incorporated into the evaporite. Note penknife for scale. Penarth,
South Wales. National Museum of Wales.

Cliff section showing layers of red and green marls containing pods of alabaster
(gypsum), formed by the evaporation of highly saline water. Penarth, South Wales.
National Museum of Wales.

Diagenetic minerals consolidation of sediment into rock

Authigenic minerals are also formed during diagenesis, a process involving all of the
chemical, physical, and biological changes undergone by any sediment following
deposition and during its transformation into solid rock. This includes compaction by
the pressure of increasingly deep burial, the ensuing squeezing out of much of the
trapped pore-water in the sediment and the dissolution and reprecipitation of
minerals to form cements to bind mineral and rock grains. Diagenesis is controlled
by increases in temperature and pressure and by the amount of time over which
such changes occur.
In some sediments, unusually high concentrations of metals and other elements
lead to the growth, during diagenesis, of authigenic minerals in crystals (such as
pyrite cubes), as fossil replacements and as nodules or concretions. Concretions are
spheroidal or lenticular bodies of mineral-rich rock. In shaly rocks their greater
hardness makes them stand out from eroded surfaces. Common concretion-forming
minerals found in Wales include siderite (ironstone), calcite, quartz, pyrite, apatite
and the rare-earth phosphate, monazite.
Concretions may also contain internal cracks (septa) within which other minerals
have subsequently crystallized, in which case they are termed septarian
concretions. In Wales the best-known of these occur in the South Wales Coalfield,
where beautifully-crystallized millerite, quartz, galena and other minerals have been
collected by breaking such concretions open. These have their uses to the geologist
too: trapped fluids within quartz crystals from the concretions have yielded valuable
information regarding the pressures and temperatures under which diagenesis
(including coal formation) took place.