Clastic rock rich in lithics are called lithic sandstones. Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks are composed of mainly silicate particles derived by the weathering of older rocks and pyroclastic volcanism. While grain size, clast and cementing material (matrix) composition, and texture are important factors when regarding composition, siliciclastic sedimentary rocks are classified according to grain size into three major categories; conglomerates, sandstones, and mudrocks. The term clay is used to classify particles smaller than .0039 millimeters. However, term can also be used to refer to a family of sheet silicate minerals. Silt refers to particles that have a diameter between .062 and .0039 millimeters.
Granular material asteroids. Some examples of granular materials are snow, nuts, coal, sand, rice, coffee, corn flakes, fertilizer, and bearing balls. Research into granular materials is thus directly applicable and goes back at least to Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, whose law of friction was originally stated for granular materials. Granular materials are commercially important in applications as diverse as pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, and energy production. Powders are a special class of granular material due to their small particle size, which makes them more cohesive and more easily suspended in a gas. The soldier/physicist Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold was an early pioneer of the