Quartz arenite

A quartz arenite or quartzarenite is a sandstone composed of greater than 90% detrital quartz,[1] with limited amounts of other framework grains (feldspar, lithic fragments, etc.) and matrix. It can have higher-than-average amounts of resistant grains, like chert and minerals in the ZTR index.

Quartz arenite makes up the Prospect Mountain Quartzite on top of Doso Doyabi, Nevada

The term 'quartz arenite' is derived from the main component (quartz) and arenite, a Latin term for a rock with sand-sized grains. In some literature, these can be called orthoquartzites, a confusing term which usually refers to the metamorphic rock quartzite, though most metamorphic quartzites are diagenetically fused from quartz arenites. The term "quartzose sandstone" can also be used for a quartz arenite.

Quartz arenites are the most mature sedimentary rocks possible, and are often referred to as ultra- or super-mature, and are usually cemented by silica. They often exhibit both textural and compositional maturity. The two primary sedimentary depositional environments that produce quartz arenites are beaches/upper shoreface and aeolian processes,[2] due to their high residence time, high transport distance, and/or high energy of the environment. Most of the time, these sediments are reworked over and over, even being eroded out of a lithified rock and becoming a brand new sediment and rock. This is known as a multicycle sand.

See also

References
  1. Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy, Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic, Freeman 2nd ed., 1996, p. 518 ISBN 0-7167-2438-3
  2. Prothero, D. R. and Schwab, F., 1996, Sedimentary Geology, pg. 96-98, ISBN 0-7167-2726-9
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