Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral.

Rock formations composed of sandstone usually allow the percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs.

[8] Eroded sand is transported by rivers or by the wind from its source areas to depositional environments where tectonics has created accommodation space for sediments to accumulate.

[10][11] Early stages of diagenesis, described as eogenesis, take place at shallow depths (a few tens of meters) and are characterized by bioturbation and mineralogical changes in the sands, with only slight compaction.

Pressure solution contributes to cementing, as the mineral dissolved from strained contact points is redeposited in the unstrained pore spaces.

[16][17] Most framework grains are composed of quartz or feldspar, which are the common minerals most resistant to weathering processes at the Earth's surface, as seen in the Goldich dissolution series.

[1] The nature of the matrix within the interstitial pore space results in a twofold classification: Cement is what binds the siliciclastic framework grains together.

This process can be somewhat reversed by the application of tetraethyl orthosilicate (Si(OC2H5)4) which will deposit amorphous silicon dioxide between the sand grains.

The composition of a sandstone can provide important information on the genesis of the sediments when used with a triangular quartz, feldspar, lithic chart (QFL diagrams).

For example, a QFL chart can be marked with a provenance model that shows the likely tectonic origin of sandstones with various compositions of framework grains.

[25] The philosophy behind combining Gilbert's and R. L. Folk's schemes is that it is better able to "portray the continuous nature of textural variation from mudstone to arenite and from stable to unstable grain composition".

[26] Geologists had recognized by 1941 that some rocks show the macroscopic characteristics of quartzite, even though they have not undergone metamorphism at high pressure and temperature.

Orthoquartzite (in the narrow sense) is often 99% SiO2 with only very minor amounts of iron oxide and trace resistant minerals such as zircon, rutile and magnetite.

However, some types that have been used in the past, such as the Collyhurst sandstone used in North West England, have had poor long-term weather resistance, necessitating repair and replacement in older buildings.

[39] In some regions of Argentina, the orthoquartzite-stoned facade is one of the main features of the Mar del Plata style bungalows.