What is Sandstone?

Sandstone is an arenaceous sedimentary rock composed mainly of feldspar and quartz and varies in colour (in a similar way to sand), through grey, yellow, red, and white. Since sandstones often form highly visible cliffs and other rock formations, certain colors of sandstone may be strongly identified with certain regions. For instance, much of the American West is well-known for its red sandstones.

Sandstone is an arenaceous sedimentary rock composed mainly of feldspar and quartz and varies in colour (in a similar way to sand), through grey, yellow, red, and white. Since sandstones often form highly visible cliffs and other rock formations, certain colors of sandstone may be strongly identified with certain regions. For instance, much of the American West is well-known for its red sandstones.

Sandstones are often relatively soft and easy to work which therefore make them a common building and paving material.

Rock formations that are primarily sandstone usually allow percolation of water, and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers. Fine grained aquifers, such as sandstones, are more apt to filter out pollutants from the surface than are rocks with cracks and crevices such as limestones or other rocks fractured from seismic activity.

Origins of Sandstone

Sandstones are clastic in origin (as opposed to organic, like chalk or coal). They are formed from the cemented grains that may be fragments of a pre-existing rock, or else just mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays and silica. Grain sizes in sands are in the range of 0.1mm to 2mm. (Rocks with smaller grain sizes include siltstones and shades and are typically called argillaceous sediments, as are also clays. Rocks with larger grain sizes include both breccias and conglomerates and are termed rudaceous sediments.).

The principle mechanism for the formation of sandstone is by the sedimentation of grains out of a fluid, such as a river, lake or sea. The environment of deposition is crucial in determining the characteristics of the resulting sandstone, which on a finer scale include its grain size, sorting, composition and on a larger scale include the rock geometry. Principal environments of deposition may be split between terrestrial and marine, as illustrated by the following broad groupings:

    Terrestrial environments

  • Rivers (levees, point bars, channel sands)
  • Lakes

    Marine environments

  • Shore face sands
  • Deltas
  • Turbidites (submarine channels)

Sandstone Colors

Agra Red Sandstone

Agra Red Sandstone

Camel Yellow Sandstone

Camel Yellow Sandstone

Dholpur Beige Sandstone

Dholpur Beige Sandstone

Rainbow Sandstone

Rainbow Sandstone

Teak Wood Sandstone

Teak Wood Sandstone

We have made portfolio of indigenous Granites, Marbles, Quartz, Sandstones, Slates , Limestones and other building stones from location across the India.

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  • Address: #194, First Floor, Doctor’s Layout, Kembathally Main Road, Gottigere, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore -560083, Karnataka, India
  • Contact:Pashupati Adhikari (Director)
  • Phone:+91 96323 37502, +91 96327 44860,
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