Psammite

This article is about the type of sedimentary rock. For the work by Archimedes, see The Sand Reckoner.

Psammite (Greek: psammitēs "(made) from sand", from psammos "sand")^[1] is a general term for sandstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term arenite^[2][3] and is commonly used in various publications to describe a metamorphosed sedimentary rock with a dominantly sandstone protolith.^[4] In Europe, this term was formerly used for a fine-grained, fissile, clayey sandstone.^[3] Pettijohn^[5] 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:

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

1. ψαμμίτης, ψάμμος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Tyrell, G. W. (1921) Some points in petrographic nomenclature. Geological Magazine. v. 58, no. 11, pp. 494–502.
5. Pettijohn F. J. (1975), Sedimentary Rocks, Harper & Row, ISBN 0-06-045191-2