ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cementation (geology)

Okay kiddo, do you know what cement is? It's like glue that holds things together. Well, in geology, cementation is when a bunch of particles, like dirt or rocks, get stuck together by a type of natural glue.

Here's how it happens: first, a bunch of particles, like sand, get piled up on top of each other. That's called sediment. Then, over time, some water seeps in between the particles. In that water, there are tiny minerals, kind of like salt or sugar. Those minerals start to stick to the particles and form little crystals.

As more and more minerals stick to the particles, the crystals grow bigger and bigger. They start to wrap around the particles and stick them together tightly, like glue. Eventually, the sediment becomes rock, held together by the cemented particles.

So, cementation is just a fancy word for when rocks get glued together by minerals that grow around the particles that make them up. It's a natural process that helps make the rocks around us. Pretty cool, huh?