Sandstone
Description
A sedimental rock composed of sand grains (quartz) cemented together by other materials, such as silica, oxide iron oxide, clay, or calcite. Sandstone varies widely in its hardness, color, and durability. The colors can be white, yellow, red, brown, or gray. Sandstones account for 10-20% of the Earth's sedimentary rock and form the backbone for some mountain ranges such as the Appalachians (Eastern U.S.), the Carpathians (eastern Europe), the Pennines (England), and the Apennines (Italy). Sandstones have been widely used for buildings, paving, grindstones, and whetstones.
Synonyms and Related Terms
siltstone; graywacke; arkose; quartzite; brownstone; greensand; arenisca (Esp.) ;grs (Fr.); arenito (Port.); Sandstein (Deut.); zandsteen (Ned.)
Other Properties
Size of sand grains = 0.06 - 2 millimeter
| Density | 2.14-2.36 |
|---|
Comparisons
Properties of Common Abrasives
Additional Images
Sandstone
Sandstone (with quartz)
Sandstone
Authority
- Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "sandstone" Encyclopdia Britannica [Accessed January 22, 2002].
- C.W.Chesterman, K.E.Lowe, C.W.Chesterman, K.E.Lowe, Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979
- Ralph Mayer, Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)
- Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstone (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)
- Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976
- Random House, Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
- The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998
- G.S.Brady, G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 690
- Richard S. Lewis, Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Robert Weast (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, v. 61, 1980 Comment: density=2.14-2.36
- Michael McCann, Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979