Melanie Giambattista
The Formation of Sedimentary Rock – Earth’s Crust and Resources (Earth Science)
This demo does not have a real fizz or pop to it. However, it is important to show students
demos in all areas of the curriculum.
Earth’s Crust and Resources
Outcome: EC7.3
Indicator - a. Model the process of formation of the three major types of rocks: sedimentary,
igneous, and metamorphic.


Sedimentary rocks, as the name implies, are rocks formed from sediments. These
sediments may be from shells and other hard body parts of animals that live in oceans
(limestone). They may be formed of compressed sand and other ocean sediments
(sandstone). Compressed sediments from freshwater mud and silt make up other
sedimentary rocks (shale).
Sedimentary rock: this type of rock is formed when sediments (loose bits of rock,
organic remains, and minerals) settle in layers, one on top of the other. This usually
occurs in oceans and lakes. Sediment particles settle at the bottom and the weight of
the water and sediments above eventually compacts the lower layer of sediments.
Some minerals dissolve in the water, then reform as crystals that act like cement to bind
the sediments together.
Sedimentary Shake-Up
Purpose: students observe the settling of sediments in a jar. This models what happens
naturally in a river or lake.
 Sediments of different rocks can get churned up and mixed together in a rushing river or
in larger lakes and oceans by the action of waves. How do they settle into organized
layers of rock?
Materials: dampened clay powder, sand, fine gravel, coarse gravel, a large, clear glass jar, water
What to do:
1. Half fill the jar with water
2. Make a mixture of equal parts of all the sediments pour the mixture into the jar
3. Stir the mixture, or cap the jar and shake, until all of the sediments are moving about
4. Set the jar down and observe the sediments settling
5. Let the jar sit undisturbed and examine
What did you find out? Answers
1. Coarse gravel settled first.
2. Clay took the longest time to settle. (Note: the clay materials take a long time to settle
completely, and some particles may still be suspended)
3. Layers from top to bottom (water with suspended clay particles, clay layer, sand layer,
fine gravel layer, coarse gravel layer)
Melanie Giambattista
4. The water does not look the same. It does not look as clean as when it was added.
5. Several factors (weight of the sediments, buoyant forces, specific gravity) affect settling.
Students will likely say the larger, heavier sediments (coarse gravel) settle first, which is
an adequate response.

Rock sediments eventually settle, and, over the years, it starts to pile up. Most often this
happens in lakes and oceans where larger, heavier fragments settle first and end up at
the bottom.
o Each layer is squeezed together by the weight of the other sediment and the
water on top of it. This process is called compaction.
Here is another demo for sedimentary rocks – I am not doing this one, but I thought I would
share it anyway.
Forming Sedimentary Rocks by Evaporation
The sedimentary rock halite is composed of NaCl
What is NaCl?
Salt!

Sedimentary rock is created in two major
ways, either by the compaction of loose
material over time or the crystallization of
dissolved minerals. When water
evaporates, the dissolved sediments contained within the water crystallize.
Materials: salt, beaker, tablespoon, water, evaporation, dish, hot plate
 Half-fill the beaker with water, and dissolve several tablespoons (30-45 ml) of salt. Heat
the dish until all the water evaporates. What is left behind is sedimentary rock: halite.
Limestone and halite are examples of sedimentary rocks formed by evaporation.

Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying
up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and
underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive underground beds
extend from the Appalachian basin of western New York through parts of Ontario and
under much of the Michigan Basin. Other deposits are in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico,
Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The Khewra salt mine is a massive deposit of rock salt
near Islamabad, Pakistan. In the United Kingdom there are three mines, the largest of
these is at Winsford in Cheshire producing half a million tonnes on average in six
months.
o Used residentially for managing ice.
Melanie Giambattista
From:
Science Power 7th Edition, Unit 4 Earth`s Crust, Teacher`s Resource, Page TR 4-20
http://books.google.ca/books?id=xI6EDV_PRr4C&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=Mechanical+Weatherin
g+-+Science+Demo&source=bl&ots=Z7y49_O8Sa&sig=AhMfndjahWynhEmArsvtgSLRLk&hl=en&ei=MsjtTLa6JMHqOdu6cQK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false