Grain size Grain size Grain size (or particle size) is the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or the lithified particles in clastic rocks. The term may also be applied to other granular materials. This is different from the crystallite size, which refers to the size of a single crystal inside a particle or grain. A single grain can be composed of several crystals. Granular material can range from very small colloidal particles, through clay, silt, sand, gravel, and cobbles, to boulders. Size ranges define limits of classes that are given names in the Wentworth scale (or Udden–Wentworth scale) used in the
Erosion and tectonics surface. The term erosion refers to the group of natural processes, including weathering, dissolution, abrasion, corrosion, and transportation, by which material is worn away from the Earth's surface to be transported and deposited in other locations. The feedback of erosion on tectonics is given by the transportation of surface, or near-surface, mass (rock, soil, sand, regolith, etc.) to a new location. This redistribution of material can have profound effects on the state of gravitational stresses in the area, dependent on the magnitude of mass transported. Because tectonic processes are highly dependent on the current state of gravitational stresses, redistribution of