Identifying Sea Rocks

Video Transcript

"Hi this is Jane Stammer from the Colorado School of Mines and I am here to answer questions on how to identify sea rocks. Now sea rocks typically are rocks formed in a sea environment or an ocean environment and one of the most common types of rocks in this environment is called limestone. Limestone is made of the mineral calcium carbonate and this is formed when tiny creatures in the sea that have shells die and decompose and fall to the bottom of the ocean their shells are made of actually calcium carbonate. When they pile up on top of each other and then get buried they form large bands of limestone. Another type of sea rock or rock formed in this type of environment is called the shale. Shales are made of tiny small clay minerals. When muds and other sediments form at the bottom of the ocean they also pile up and form very very large layers of shales and other fine grained sedimentary rocks and that is how to identify sea rocks."