How do well sorted sediments differ from poorly sorted sediments?

How do well sorted sediments differ from poorly sorted sediments?

Well-sorted sediments are of similar size (such as desert sand), while poorly-sorted sediments have a wide range of grain sizes (as in a glacial till). A well-sorted sandstone tends to have greater porosity than a poorly sorted sandstone because of the lack of grains small enough to fill its pores.

How do you tell if a rock is well sorted or poorly sorted?

The extent to which all the grains are the same size is known as sorting. If all the grains are the same size, they are well sorted. Some sandstones are well sorted, and some are not. Most conglomerates are poorly sorted, and consist of a mixture of grain sizes ranging from sand to pebble.

Which sediments are better sorted?

Description. Sorting can reflect both sediment source and/or transport, with aeolian-transported sediments being among the best sorted and glacial sediments being among the poorest sorted.

What do you think a poorly sorted sediment looks like?

Poorly-sorted sediments have grains of varying sizes, and are evidence of sediments that have been deposited fairly close to the source area, i.e., have not undergone much transport. Other examples of angular, poorly-sorted rocks are breccia and arkose sandstone.

Is breccia poorly sorted?

Sorting – a breccia comprising a mixture of clast sizes is poorly sorted, while one comprising mostly clasts of the same size is well sorted; Texture – clastic (coarse-grained). Grain size – > 2mm; clasts easily visible to the naked eye, should be identifiable.

Is Coquina poorly sorted?

Coquina is a detrital limestone consisting of shells or shell fragments. The constituents are mechanically sorted (usually by sea waves), transported and often abraded because of transport and sorting. It is a porous and soft weakly to moderately cemented rock.

What are the terms for sorting in sediments?

The terms describing sorting in sediments – very poorly sorted, poorly sorted, moderately sorted, well sorted, very well sorted – have technical definitions, and semi-quantitatively describe the amount of variance seen in particle sizes.

What’s the difference between crystallite and well sorted sediment?

Crystallite is the building block of a grain. Very poorly sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are mixed (large variance ); whereas well sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are similar (low variance).

How is the sorting of sediments affected by reworking?

Sorting of sediments can also be affected by reworking of the material after deposition, for instance, by winnowing. Well sorted rocks are generally porous, while poorly sorted rocks have low porosity.

Why are the grains of a well sorted particle similar in size?

Well-sortedsediments have grains of similar size, and are the result of much sediment transport and earth processes which segregated the sediment by depositing different size fractions in different places.