Rock Identification with Willsey: Sandstone, Mudstone, and Shale

Learn how to identify, describe, and understand sandstone, mudstone, and shale, common clastic sedimentary rocks with geology professor Shawn Willsey.
Link to PDF of my notes: drive.google.com/drive/u/0/fo...
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Shawn Willsey
College of Southern Idaho
315 Falls Avenue
Twin Falls, ID 83303

[@rodchallis8031]

Even with just a good magnifying glass, fossil bearing sandstones and limestones become even more interesting. It's like cruising over an alien landscape.

[@brucedymock6635]

Great revision plus some in-depth I didn’t know thanks again

[@notablebias]

I just started as a geology student after deciding on a career change, I wish I had done this back when I first went to college. Glad I came across your channel, looking forward to learning more.

[@dinoflame9696]

me too! after working in IT for years, the thought of spending every work day indoors gave me panic. on my second geology semester now, it feels amazing

[@christophermclaughlin8899]

This does inspire me to look closer at my local sandstones. Here in western Missouri we have late Pennsylvanian Weldon River-Warrensburg-Moberly channel sandstone of the Pleasanton Group, but to my uneducated eye, all I could say is it’s fine grained, the color of Graham crackers, and the giant blocks of it in my childhood backyard was a joy to climb around on. I can also say that Woody Guthrie’s childhood home in Okemah, Oklahoma, had a sandstone foundation.

[@christophermclaughlin8899]

Just got my copy of Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho and it’s excellent! People, if you don’t have it, buy it! But get it from his website directly, for that personal touch and autograph! I may never make it to Idaho, but at least I can live vicariously through the book and the great photos and diagrams.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the kind words and glad you are enjoying the book. If anyone else is interested, you can order signed copies here: shawn-willsey.square.site/

[@jasonlemon4491]

Use a telescope eye peace like a 5mm eye peace look through the eye peace's in reverse, the lower the mm on the eye peace the more the magnification! You would be able to see skin cells through the reversed telescope eye peace's! Ive done it and it really works!! Its quite rudimentary Hold the eye peace on the phone camera lens reversed add a bit of light off to the side and wow its is so cool! Love your content..

[@sdmike1141]

Oolitic sandstone! Great new word! Thanks.

[@shawnwillsey]

Impressive buzzwords for the win. Enjoy!

[@TheWadetube]

I always love looking at rocks. Either they are a building block, or a decorative gem or something to be carved into designs or structures, pretty much all rocks have a use or purpose.

[@steveholmes4918]

Great presentation, as usual. Thank you.

[@sharonseal9150]

Thanks Shawn - another informative video! Also, I just now noticed the link for the notes, so thanks for sharing that as well. This has been a very useful series for me, and I am lucky enough to have a lot of different rock types in my immediate vicinity near Wenatchee to practice what I have learned. I think the first place I will visit when the snow melts is a location just north of Wenatchee in a road cut where I have collected leaf fossils with my grandkids in the past.

[@shawnwillsey]

Great news, Sharon, Glad these videos are helpful. Wenatchee is a great area with fantastic geology so you will get lots of practice with your new rock ID skills.

[@sanjeevrampalliwar3917]

Thank you sir.very informative to a 70 year professor of human physiology turned student of geology. I collect rock samples as a hobby and try to categorise them

[@frederickmiller3956]

Great presentation, Shawn.

[@michaelmckeag960]

Belatedly discovered this series of yours, and this episode has inspired another project to add to too many. Next, visit a craft shop to stock up on small sample containers. We are currently taking a break from winter at home among Columbia River Gorge flood basalts, now in the Anza Borrego Desert, next Death Valley, then a loop through AZ, NM, UT and NV, then home. A good quality stereo microscope with camera port awaits at home. Geotagged context phone shots will taken with each sample collection of course. This will be fun!

[@AzideFox]

Wow another great video! I definitely learned a few things that I didn't know before. Thank you for making such amazing and easy to grasp geology content available on KZbin for free! I'm sure I'm not the only one that you are helping to get into this stuff

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for watching and learning with me.

[@ErrolMiller-ey3lb]

THANK YOU. THIS WAS SPLENDID. A SUPER STAR. EXCELLENT GEOLÖGIST. TECHNICAL INFORMATION CLEAR AND ACCURATE. CONGRATULATIONS.

[@The_One_Cosmos]

Kudos Bro. Great content! Props here from Porthill Idaho in far Northern Idaho near the border. 🙂

[@Mayflower1122]

Thank you the way you explained is amazing I'm understanding things i didn't understanding on my geology classes for years ❤

[@SamtheIrishexan]

I appreciate your channel. I remember when the internet became a thing I thought this would be the kind of stuff we would find. Boy was I naive lol. That being said thank you, I can't afford to return to college just yet and I really wish I had paid more attention in the sciences and I learn alot from your content.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks Sam for your kind words. I am more than glad to share my passion and knowledge of geology with other folks like you.

[@francescaextracrispy3912]

Thanks professor for this detailed presentation of rocks.

[@kunit26]

Thank you for making these quality videos!!

[@shawnwillsey]

You bet. Love to share

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

Also eager to learn about chert because I have some of that here as well.

[@shawnwillsey]

Chert will be featured in an upcoming episode. Stay tuned!

[@geomodelrailroader]

Always good to watch these videos again Willsey. I remember when I collected some of these rocks and brought them to you. Sandstone is one of the oldest rocks on earth and when you have sandstone there will be fossils nearby. As you said long ago the day I stopped at your lab "The History of the Earth is written in the rocks". Each rock tells a story and the older they get the more compressed they are. Most rocks like shale and lignite are metamorphic and as the lairs stack up they compress and the end result is crystals which I collect. I still have those quartzite crystals that I picked up from City of Rocks that was a good trip and explains the history of Idaho with the oldest rocks in Idaho.

[@phillipthomas1379]

Great video. Very interesting and informative ❤

[@Jukindza]

I am sooo happy to find your videous! I was searching for this all my life (:

[@shawnwillsey]

Awesome news. Enjoy the collection

[@saadmostafazadeh3028]

Thank you for your explanations,

[@BuickOutdoors]

I live in northeastern BC and we have mostly sandstone, limestone and shale where Im at. With that comes a lot of plant fossils, shell fossils and dinosaur discoveries. I filmed a video of the worlds largest dinosaur trackway site with over 1200 dinosaur tracks thats an hour from my house. If you ever make a trip up North, I would love to show you the site.

[@HiwasseeRiver]

Another good episode - I live (and fish) in South East TN and see a lot of a shiny cobble in the Hiwassee River - the rock has a shiny metallic black patina but inside it's a very fine grained red-ish sand stone I think it's a greywacke.

[@sujathap1310]

Explanation was wonderful. Thank you

[@SamtheIrishexan]

I enjoyed the grain size fun fact for conversation.

[@sdmike1141]

Thanks! These rock videos are really helpful.

[@jeffbaran8036]

Great show. Many thanks. USA Jeff Baran 🇺🇸 FOREVER

[@danielchapman9635]

Thanks, I’m in the chihuahuas desert and need this style I Of instruction to help me identify a huge amount of different rocks in one small area. An alluvial fan I have been told. Thanks again.

[@kevinball7274]

Always so interesting. Thank you.

[@Rachel.4644]

Again, great information! I have a stereo microscope and collect sands on my travels (Bruneau is one, thanks to your Guide). My nearly pure quartz sample is from Long Island Sound, a mature beach. 😉 Your explanation of ripple marks was very helpful. Thank you Shawn!

[@holly50575]

Yes, very helpful! Thank you.

[@skyepilotte11]

Thx Shawn.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

I found one lone rippled slab of stone in my field. I have no idea where they came from, but I am guessing they were formed at a much higher altitude because of where I found it in the alluvial deposit which is my lower field and none of the nearby hills are like it. I would really like to learn more about them than what they look like though.

[@jakebrakebill]

I'm more confused now, great video but I found a rock like no other in the Arizona desert. Watching any and all videos to try to identify it, I was hoping this video would do it, because it seems like some kind of sandstone. But after watching your video, I'm now thinking it isn't. Thanks for helping eliminate sandstone.

[@omprakasharya9020]

Thanks for such vedio.

[@Teadon86]

I don't know why but I felt the need to know something about shale.

[@robertlang5331]

A stereomicroscope with a small video camera attached is an easy and affordable setup for examining rocks, insects, etc, at 10 through to 100 times magnification. Good setups that are not too fiddly to operate, are commonly available.

[@steveingle5773]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you!

[@user-rl7wz7xr9u]

wow so cool. thanks learrnt so much

[@joshuapeaslee5677]

What would be good if you had some quick videos on how these rocks were formed and some cleaving demonstrations.

[@geoffgeoff143]

Sand under a stereo is facinating. You only want 20X or maybe 40X. A misconception with microscopes is high magnefication. Unkess you are doing bilogical reseach, not needed. Carry some snack bags and collect a teaspoon of sand. Look at the environment where it was collected. Lable your samples. Get in to grian mount thin sections. You can buy polarising sheet plastic. Put one piece over the light source below. Then use another peice mounted in a film canister over the eyepeice so you can rotate it. Some stereos hsve a screw on protective glass below the objectives. Put a bit of polarising plastic on that. Use an LCD phone screen and sunglasses. Rotate. Sand is so exciting. You can even build your own castle with it.

[@user-ib3ou7se8c]

It good,,, thanks

[@robertlang5331]

I had a stereomicroscope that could do as low as 7x and as high as 45x magnification. A different eyepiece could double the lower and higher limits.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

Since shale is called mudstone around me here and I have a lot of it and want to know more about it, this is right on time for me! 1, I want to know if I can use it to make ceramic slip, and 2, is there any way to alter it to make it a durable stone product for construction, since as it exists in nature it will slake into gravel in a short moment instead of lasting.

[@davidk7324]

No sandstones were harmed in the making of this video. P.S. try using a quality 2-3 inch hand-held magnifying glass between the specimen and the camera. You could superglue a flat "hat pin" on the back of the glass to use as a pointer. This would free one hand.

[@nickscavenger]

Argillite is an excellent natural whetstone for finishing a knife. These stones range from 6000 to 20,000 grit depending on the color.

[@ryos251]

Hi , Great explanation of variations. I found a green sandstone with some white quartz bits .. The outside also has rust color on the green . Any idea on that as to the red orange rust color ?

[@roneldridge7991]

I Purchased a Magnifier that slides in to a microscope and hold your camera. It works great.

[@JohnMark61355]

Fabulous video, as usual. Regarding the stereo microscope, what range of magnification is best for examining rocks and minerals? What was the magnification of the photos shown in this video?

[@shawnwillsey]

Usually 2X to 10X is plenty for most sandstones.

[@jimjr4432]

Hi Shawn, love your videos. If I was smarter, I would have been a geologist, not a forester. So you mentioned, 'organic' describing shells and coral origins. I'm not sure of why that would be, could you give a further explanation?

[@shawnwillsey]

So funny because early in college, I thought I wanted to be a forester and then became a geologist. My use of the term organic refers to shelly material from marine organisms like coral, clam shells, etc.

[@Meggligee]

@shawnwillsey Thanks so much for this series! You finally brought up a sample of what I’ve termed “Pocatello Mystery Shale!” It’s really just a mystery to me, but it is the only purple/ gray/ orange shale I’ve ever seen and I need to know why! Please why is it purple and orange with the gray? I’m assuming orange is from oxidation, the the purple has me stumped. Your sample is pretty purple. In northern Kentucky, I’m surrounded by boring shale, mudstone, clay and conglomerates, so seeing shale that is non-gray and orange is exciting.

[@shawnwillsey]

Organic content and weathering (including oxidation) are likely the main variations for color.

[@frederickmiller3956]

When I was a Materials Inspector, I tested soils. Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. It can be felt by the tongue as granular when placed on the front teeth (even when mixed with clay particles). Silt makes up 45% of common mud. It is identified using the Sand Equivalent test. (Wikipedia)

[@SamtheIrishexan]

I love the rippled rock, that has to be from the very top layer of the rock unit right? Or can you find ripples like that when breaking up rocks?

[@shawnwillsey]

Ripples form at surface but can be buried with younger layers.

[@Saritabanana]

Hi Shawn! It's me again asking about rocks in Alabama. There is one area on my mom's property where there are huge boulders of this particular sandstone. When chiseled, colors of bright blue, green, orange and yellow are revealed. What minerals could be causing these colors? Some other stuff in the area that may give you ideas- -I've also found very heavy iron ore some that's a bit magnetic so I guess that is ilmenite? It's black with a purple slight hue when broken open. The outside is coated in very small hematite type bubbles, but some is coated in tiny green crystals! maybe amphibole of some kind? Some of the other sandstone is coated in the most beautiful colors of lichen and black and white speckled on the inside. It looks like weathered granite. The coating will just fall off. Lots of quartz, hornblende, feldspar so granite, schist, gneiss, that kind of stuff. Well that may be too much rambling but I'd love some help with the colorful sandstone ID. I can't find anyone in any of the facebook groups to help. I've even thought of contacting the nearby college, Auburn, Geology dept to come out and help! :) I'm a 45 year old newbie to this hobby and I love it.

[@shawnwillsey]

Hmm. Maybe take a sample to the geology professor of the closest college/university to ID. Hope that helps.

[@Saritabanana]

@@shawnwillsey HAHA yes it does :)

[@robertlang5331]

The rule is, with scientific optics, you tend to get what you pay for. A couple of hundred dollars for an instrument which contains several optical elements is obviously going to lead to severe compromises in optical quality.

[@joeytravel30]

Am learning how to distinguish or rather identify an oolitic grainstone on a core log and had never heard pf an oolitic sandstone. What made that an oolitic sandstone when it has calcite? Wouldn't it be more of a grainstone, since there was no sand minerals but more of calcite, and lacked mud, more grain supported? I would have thought that was more of a carbonate rock, so how do l distinguish the two?

[@guywhoisaguy67676]

Do you have a video like this on BIF's ? There kind of cousins related.

[@shawnwillsey]

I do not have one currently and probably won't be doing one as I only have one small piece of BIF and it is somewhat rare in much of North America.

[@karenhunt7035]

re lithic sandstones: what's the difference between a grain of sand and a rock fragment?

[@michaelmirraministry8834]

How do you know, on appearance of an individual rock, location unknown, if you are looking at a fine grained sedimentary rock or an aphanitic igneous rock?

[@shawnwillsey]

Might need to use a hand lens or microscope to see small minerals. If they are crystals, its igneous. If they are rock fragments (clasts), its sedimentary.

[@michaelmirraministry8834]

@@shawnwillsey oh that's awesome 👌 thanks!

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

Picture, if you will, the mineral world around you, the dirt, the sand, the rock, the soil. Picture, if you will. the earth...picture it's textures, its characteristics, its abilities, its shortcomings. Picture, if you will, geology."-Rod Serling, _Night Gallery, Maybe_ 1974, perhaps paraphrased.

[@goatsuukerhill]

👍🏻

[@3xHermes]

👍

[@charlesewillmore5252]

there are usb microscopes i believe may be able to hook up w cell phone and possibly take photo and save to the phone

[@johncooper4637]

I would suggest getting a USB microscope that you can attach to your camera. One thing that you missed on your depositional environment (in the paper) was sand dunes.

[@shawnwillsey]

Yep, my list was not totally inclusive. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@Cinnemax77]

About (?) the magnification on those pictures of sand. ?

[@shawnwillsey]

About 40 to 80X

[@tonymcflattie2450]

I see a lot of globes in the classroom. Flat earthers have left the chat

[@carliegriffin7229]

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@StagnantMizu]

I sometimes wonder how long it takes for certain rocks to form what is the evidence it takes millions of years why not just 10 000 how can we truly know

[@geoffgeoff143]

Shales, slates, phylites have always confused me in the field.

[@shawnwillsey]

A common issue.

[@thomasrhodes5013]

So some sandstone is actually burning. Rapid oxidation is fire. Slow oxidation is rust, but oxidation is burning., no?

[@robertlang5331]

Some microscopes already come with a display unit already fixed above the instrument, for public viewing. But be careful...as some of these are not of good quality. Just don't go too cheap on price, and do get one from a respectable & specialized vendor of optical instruments. I am very experienced in the evaluation of optical instruments, but if I were not, I wouldn't buy from a general vendor of cheap science toys.

[@deltalima6703]

Impressing your friends seems like a dodgy motivation to use all those sketchy names.