Mudstone, sedimentary rock composed primarily of clay- or silt-sized particles (less than 0.063 mm [0.0025 inch] in diameter); it is not laminated or easily split into thin layers.

The simplest definition is that a mudstone is a fine-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is not laminated or fissile. Most definitions also include a requirement that the rock contain significant amounts of both silt- and clay-sized grains.

Angular Unconformity Because of the angular discordance at angular unconformities, they are quite easy to recognize in the field. Their occurrence means that the sub-unconformity strata were deformed (tilted or folded) and then were truncated by erosion prior to deposition of the rocks above the unconformity.

Unconformities are ancient surfaces of erosion and/or non-deposition that indicate a gap or hiatus in the stratigraphic record. An unconformity may be represented on a map by different type of line than that used for other contacts, and in cross-section is shown by a wavy or crenulated line.

Extrusive Igneous Rocks: Quick cooling means that mineral crystals don’t have much time to grow, so these rocks have a very fine-grained or even glassy texture. Hot gas bubbles are often trapped in the quenched lava, forming a bubbly, vesicular texture.

Extrusive igneous rocks form when molten rock reaches the earth’s surface and cools. In some extrusive rocks, like pumice and scoria, air and other gases are trapped in the lava as it cools. We can see holes remaining in the rock where the bubbles of gas were located.

As magma rises to the surface the pressure on it decreases. When this happens gasses dissolved in the magma are able to come out of solution, forming gas bubbles (the cavities) inside it.