Psammite

{{Short description|General term for sandstone}} {{about|the type of sedimentary rock|the work by Archimedes|The Sand Reckoner}}

thumb | right '''Psammite''' (Greek: ''psammitēs'' "(made) from sand", from ''psammos'' "sand")<ref>{{LSJ|yammi/ths|ψαμμίτης}}, {{LSJ|ya/mmos|ψάμμος|ref}}.</ref> is a general term for sandstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term arenite<ref name="U.S.BureauofMines1996a">U.S. Bureau of Mines Staff (1996) ''Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, & Related Terms.'' Report SP-96-1, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C.</ref><ref name="Neuendorf Others2005a">Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, J.A., eds. (2005) ''Glossary of Geology'' (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute, Washington, DC 779 pp.</ref> and is commonly used in various publications to describe a metamorphosed sedimentary rock with a dominantly sandstone protolith.<ref name="Tyrell1921a">Tyrell, G. W. (1921) ''Some points in petrographic nomenclature.'' Geological Magazine. v. 58, no. 11, pp. 494–502.</ref> In Europe, this term was formerly used for a fine-grained, fissile, clayey sandstone.<ref name="Neuendorf Others2005a"/> Pettijohn<ref>Pettijohn F. J. (1975), ''Sedimentary Rocks'', Harper & Row, {{ISBN|0-06-045191-2}}</ref> gives the following descriptive terms based on grain size, avoiding the use of terms such as "clay" or "argillaceous", which carry an implication of chemical composition:

{| class="wikitable" |+Descriptive size terms |- ! Texture !! Common !! Greek !! Latin |- ! Coarse | gravel(ly) || psephite ''(psephitic)''|| rudite ''(rudaceous)'' |- ! Medium | sand(y) || '''psammite''' ''(psammitic)''|| arenite ''(arenaceous)'' |- ! Fine | clay(ey) || pelite ''(pelitic)''|| lutite ''(lutaceous)'' |}

==References== {{reflist}} Category:Sandstone Category:Metasedimentary rocks Category:Sedimentary rocks Category:Sand {{petrology-stub}}