Stylolite
Serrated surface within a rock mass / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Stylolites?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Stylolites (Greek: stylos, pillar; lithos, stone) are serrated surfaces within a rock mass at which mineral material has been removed by pressure dissolution, in a deformation process that decreases the total volume of rock. Minerals which are insoluble in water, such as clays, pyrite and oxides, as well as insoluble organic matter,[1] remain within the stylolites and make them visible. Sometimes host rocks contain no insoluble minerals, in which case stylolites can be recognized by change in texture of the rock.[2] They occur most commonly in homogeneous rocks,[3] carbonates, cherts, sandstones, but they can be found in certain igneous rocks and ice. Their size vary from microscopic contacts between two grains (microstylolites) to large structures up to 20 m in length and up to 10 m in amplitude in ice.[4] Stylolites usually form parallel to bedding, because of overburden pressure, but they can be oblique or even perpendicular to bedding, as a result of tectonic activity.[5][6]