Water : sculptor of the land

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Description

Wind, heat, cold, and rain combine to weather the rocks and break them down. But the face of our earth is molded and the decayed rock carried away from one place and deposited in another mainly by water. The deposits laid down by water, wind, or ice produce after long periods of time and under pressure, rocks which are classed as sedimentary. You will see and learn how to distinguish some of the common sedimentary rocks; limestone, sandstone, shale, and conglomerate. Each of these sedimentary rocks is formed in a different way; limestone by chemical precipitations, sandstone by grains of sand cemented together, shale from beds of mud or clay pressed and cemented into thin layers, and conglomerate is made of gravel or pebbles of assorted sizes cemented together. You will be introduced to one of the most interesting features of sedimentary rocks -their fossils. These records of living things are guides to the history of life on the earth.