Stylolites (Greek: stylos, pillar; lithos, stone) are serrated surfaces within a rock mass at which mineral material has been removed by pressure dissolution, in a deformation process that decreases the total volume of rock. Minerals which are insoluble in water, such as clays, pyrite and oxides, as well as insoluble organic matter,[1] remain within the stylolites and make them visible. Sometimes host rocks contain no insoluble minerals, in which case stylolites can be recognized by change in texture of the rock.[2] They occur most commonly in homogeneous rocks,[3] carbonates, cherts, sandstones, but they can be found in certain igneous rocks and ice. Their size vary from microscopic contacts between two grains (microstylolites) to large structures up to 20 m in length and up to 10 m in amplitude in ice.[4] Stylolites usually form parallel to bedding, because of overburden pressure, but they can be oblique or even perpendicular to bedding, as a result of tectonic activity.[5][6]
- ^ Dunham J.B.; Larter S. (1981). "Association of Stylolitic Carbonates and Organic Matter: Implications for Temperature Control on Stylolite Formation". AAPG Bulletin. 65.
- ^ Middleton, Gerard V., Encyclopedia of sediments and sedimentary rocks, 2003, p. 90-92
- ^ Golding, H. G.; Conolly, J. R. (1962). "Stylolites in volcanic rocks". Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 32 (3): 534–538. doi:10.1306/74D70D12-2B21-11D7-8648000102C1865D.
- ^ Park, Won C.; Schot, Erik H. (1968). "Stylolites: their nature and origin". Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 38 (1): 175–191. doi:10.1306/74D71910-2B21-11D7-8648000102C1865D.
- ^ Andrews, Lynn M.; Railsbak, L. Bruce (1997). "Controls on stylolite development: morphologic, lithologic, and temporal evidence form bedding-parallel and transverse stylolites from the U.S. Appalachians". Journal of Geology. 105 (1): 59–73. Bibcode:1997JG....105...59A. doi:10.1086/606147. JSTOR 30079885. S2CID 128917505.
- ^ Petrology of the sedimentary rocks, F.H. Hatch, R.H. Rastall p. 382