Cementation (geology)

In geology , cementation describes a certain process of diagenesis , i.e. the change in sedimentary deposits.

Cementation is a chemical-physical process in which minerals (mostly quartz or calcite ) are transported via aqueous solutions into the pore spaces of the loose sediment and are precipitated there as cements . The porosity of the starting material is thereby reduced, while at the same time the grains of the sediment are cemented together.

Together with compaction , a purely physical process of diagenesis, which causes a pressure-related increase in density due to load- bearing material, cementation leads to the conversion of a loose, unconsolidated sediment mass into solid rock . This process is also called lithification (Greek for petrification ).

literature

• Frank Press, Raymond Siever: General Geology . Springer Verlag, Heidelberg 1995, ISBN 3860253905 .