The science that deals with the description, classification, origins of rocks and their depositions and accumulations: Among other elements, sedimentology involves the study of rock weathering in which the hardest rocks will break or dissolve into smaller particles of mud, sand, or gravel called sediment.

Sedimentology is also influenced by movements caused by gravity or motions caused by erosion; such as, when sediment rolls or goes downhill in a landslide or when it is carried away by water, wind, or moving ice in glaciers.