Wentworth (1922) grain size classification

Filed under explaining science, geology

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The canonical definition of sediment grain sizes as defined by geologist Chester K. Wentworth in a 1922 article in The Journal of Geology: "A Scale of Grade and Class Terms for Clastic Sediments".

Chester K. Wentworth

For more information about sediment classification, visit the United States Geological Survey website.

Here is a more complex version of the same chart:

Wentworth (1922) grain size classification

And here's a couple of classification schemes for sediment using these terms:

Folk and Shepard sediment classification schemes