Lithification (from the Ancient Greek word lithos meaning 'rock' and the Latin-derived suffix -ific) is the process in which sediments compact under pressure, expel connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock. Essentially, lithification is a process of porosity destruction through compaction and cementation. Lithification includes all the processes which convert unconsolidated sediments into sedimentary rocks. Petrifaction, though often used as a synonym, is more specifically used to describe the replacement of organic material by silica in the formation of fossils.[1]

See also

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  • Concretion – In geology, a type of compact mass
  • Diagenesis – Physico-chemical changes in sediments occurring after their deposition
  • Lithology – Description of the physical characteristics of a rock unit
  • Parent rock – Original rock substratum
  • Petrifaction – Process of fossilization
  • Weathering – Deterioration of rocks and minerals through exposure to the elements

References

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  1. ^ Monroe, J.S.; Wicander, R.; Hazlett, R.W. (2006). Physical Geology: Exploring the Earth (6th ed.). Belmont: Thomson. pp. 203–204. ISBN 9780495011484.


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Sandstone

and it undergoes diagenesis. This mostly consists of compaction and lithification of the sand. Early stages of diagenesis, described as eogenesis, take

Sedimentation

from initial erosion through sediment transport and settling to the lithification of the sediments. However, the strict geological definition of sedimentation

Chalk

calcite and originally formed under the sea by the accumulation and lithification of hard parts of organisms, mostly microscopic plankton, which had settled

Shale

begin to undergo diagenesis. This mostly consists of compaction and lithification of the clay and silt particles. Early stages of diagenesis, described

Sediment

eventually become sandstone and siltstone (sedimentary rocks) through lithification. Sediments are most often transported by water (fluvial processes),

Rock (geology)

surface or the seabed. Sedimentary rocks are formed by diagenesis and lithification of sediments, which in turn are formed by the weathering, transport

Clastic rock

loose sediment into hard sedimentary rocks is called lithification. During the process of lithification, sediments undergo physical, chemical and mineralogical

Tuff

such eruptions rapidly alters to palagonite as part of the process of lithification. Although conventional mafic volcanism produce little ash, such ash