Formation Like most Earth materials, rocks are created and destroyed in cycles. The rock cycle is a model that describes the formation, breakdown, and reforming` of a rock as a result of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic processes.

Weathering The process by which rock is physically broken down into sediment by waters, wind, ice, sunlight, and gravity

Erosion Sediment moved from place to another

Compacted When new layers of sediment cover old layers of sediment.

Cemented When dissolved minerals such as quartz and calcite separate from water as they pass through layers of sediment and make a natural bonding agent called cement which hold the sediment together.

Strata Layers of rock- often the sedimentary rock’s most noticeable feature.

Deposited Where sediment comes to a stop and dropped into layers of other sediment (formally called deposition)

Chemical sedimentary rock Sedimentary rock that forms from solutions of dissolved minerals and water

Clastic Sedimentary Rock Sedimentary rock that forms when rock or mineral fragments are cemented together

Organic Sedimentary Rock Rocks formed from the remains of once living organisms.

Sediment Fragments of broken rock caused by weathering.