Sediment

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Sediments
By origin Terrigenous (lithogenous) Biogenous Cosmogenous Hydrogenous
By texture Roundness Sorting Grain size boulder cobble gravel pebble granule sand silt clay colloid Other oolite scree till
By composition Manganese nodules Oolitic aragonite sand Tektites
By process Sedimentation Sedimentary budget Sediment transport coastal Weathering Erosion Aeolian (windborne) transport Biomineralization Bioturbation Compaction Concretion Exner equation Fluvial processes Glacier flow ice-sheet dynamics ice rafting Lithification Siltation Turbidity currents
By structure Sedimentary structures Bedforms cross-bedding duness graded bedding ripple marks Alluvial fan Alluvial river Fault Fold Paleocurrent indicators sole markings imbrication River delta Sediment–water interface Sedimentary basin Soft-sediment deformation Unconformity Vegetation-induced
Soil sediment Soil matrix pore space permeability morphology texture value color Catena Soil horizon Humus Humin Soil salinity Hydropedology Mineralization Microbial calcite precipitation
Marine sediment Abyssal fan Aragonite aragonite sea oolitic aragonite sand Calcite calcite sea Amorphous calcium carbonate Calcification Continental rise Bay mud Bioirrigation Coastal sediment transport Coastal sediment supply Evaporites Marine clay pelagic red clay Marine regression transgression Pelagic turbidite contourite hemipelagite Salt tectonics Sedimentary basin Tidal bundle
Biogenous sediments Calcareous ooze biogenic calcification calcareous nannoplankton Siliceous ooze biogenic silica silicification diatomaceous earth radiolarite Microfossil Reverse weathering
Sedimentary ecology Soil biomantle Soil zoology soil pathogens Pedodiversity Soil biodiversity Rhizosphere root microbiome
Sedimentary carbon Soil carbon storage Soil carbon Coal Peat
Sedimentary rock Badlands Carbonates limestone dolomite Clastic conglomerate breccia sandstone mudrock Evaporite Chalk Chert Greywacke Iron-rich Organic-rich Phosphorite Siliceous
Related History geology geological paleontology soil science Legacy sediment Principles cross-cutting relationships lateral continuity original horizontality Provenance Sedimentary record Sedimentology Stratigraphy Rock cycle calcium silica carbonate-silicate Paleolimnology Biosignature
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Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation; if buried, they may eventually become sandstone and siltstone (sedimentary rocks) through lithification.

Sediments are most often transported by water (fluvial processes), but also wind (aeolian processes) and glaciers. Beach sands and river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition, though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of aeolian transport and deposition. Glacial moraine deposits and till are ice-transported sediments.