Soils develop from weathered rock and associated organic material.
SOIL SUBSOIL WEATHERED ROCK BEDROCK
[Sedimentary] Rock Materials in Broken Fragments
Water and wind not only weather the rocks and soils but also move the weathered materials (the [sediments]) and deposit them in other places. Whenever you see a dust or [sand] storm, or a muddy creek or river, you are observing the movement of sediments by wind and water to other land areas or to the sea. The combination of weathering and movement is called erosion.
[Conglomerate] from Webb County, Texas, is composed of rounded [gravel] that has been cemented together.
Some of the rock fragments carried by water are still fairly large when they reach their destinations. On the basis of size, they are called [boulders], [cobbles], [pebbles], and [granules]. Loose deposits of these larger-size [sediments] make up what is known as [gravel]. Nature cements gravels together to form rocks such as [conglomerates] (made up of rounded gravel) and [breccias] (made up of sharp-cornered gravel).
The finer [sediments] are called [sand], silt, mud, and [clay]. When cemented, the sand grains become sandstones, the silt particles become siltstones, and the mud and clay particles become [shale]. The [sedimentary] rocks that are made up of these rock fragments are called [clastic] or fragmental rocks.