Since sandstone is made up of many small sand particles, it will break apart fairly easily while limestone is much harder and should not crumble.

Sandstones are economically important as major reservoirs for both petroleum and water, as building materials, and as valuable sources of metallic ores. Most significantly, they are the single most useful sedimentary rock type for deciphering Earth history.

The material found in sediment grains also affects the rate of weathering. The mechanical weathering of rocks like shale and sandstone causes their grains to break up over time and become sand and clay particles. As a rock goes through chemical and mechanical weathering, it is broken into smaller rocks.

Granite is heat resistant, wear resistant whereas Sandstone is heat resistant, impact resistant, pressure resistant.

Previous studies have shown that brittle strength of a rock is generally reduced in the presence of water. The reductions of brittle strength in the presence of water ranged from 5% to 17%. The water‐weakening effects were most and least significant in the Gosford and Berea sandstones, respectively.

Sandstone dissolution is a common water–rock reaction that occurs in the Earth’s crust and affects important physicochemical reactions such as porosity, permeability, buffering, and sorption (Davis et al., 2011).

Sandstones generally have good porosity and permeability, making a good well. Shales have poorer permeability and well yields are poorer.

For saturated sandstone, porosity is positively related with dynamic strength because saturated sandstone is in a nondrainage state under high-speed impact loading. The larger the porosity, the higher the water content, so dynamic strength is the higher. With increased strength, sandstone is more difficult to crack.

This natural material can be finished in a number of ways. Cutting and standard finishing leaves the counters with a bit of texture that retains a natural appearance not unlike granite. Polished sandstone countertops have an elegant sheen. In addition to the natural character, the coloration of the stone is superb.

sedimentary rocks