A rock or sediment that is rich in calcium carbonate.
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Glossary
Calcareous
Calcite
A common white or colorless rock-forming mineral, calcium carbonate.
Clay
1) A fine-grained soil, with particles having a diameter less than 0.003 inches, that can be made to exhibit plasticity within a range of water contents and that exhibits considerable strength when air dry (ASTM 2487-85, 1985). 2) Any mineral occurring in the clay-sized fraction of a soil, a suspension, or a rock, with the understanding that size imposes physical and chemical characteristics. For the most part, such “clays” are hydrous aluminosilicate or phyllosilicate minerals belonging to the clorite, illite, kaolin, or smectite clay groups (Klein and Hurlbut, 1985).
Cobble
A rock fragment larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder, having a diameter in the range of 3 inches to 12 inches (ASTM 2487-85, 1985).
Colluvium
A general term applied to any loose, heterogeneous, and unconsolidated mass of soil and rock particles deposited by rainwash, sheetwash, mass wasting, or slow, continuous downslope creep. Colluvium usually contains angular to subrounded rock particles and usually collects at the base or other low gradient portions of slopes or hillsides.
Conglomerate
A sedimentary rock consisting of gravel-sized, round, water-worn fragments of rock cemented together by another mineral substance.
Corundum
An extremely hard aluminum oxide mineral (Al2O3); gem varieties are ruby and sapphire.
Crust
The outermost layer of the Earth.
Crystalline
An interlocking arrangement of mineral crystals in igneous or metamorphic rocks.
Cut Slope
A slope exposed by excavating Earth materials.