At or near Earth's surface, sedimentary rocks form in two ways: by the accumulation of rock grains or by the formation of a solid from minerals dissolved in water. The fragments that go into making sedimentary rocks can be as big as boulders or as small as clay particles. Over long periods of time, the upper layers of debris compress the lower layers, squeezing out excess water or air trapped between the rock fragments. Under the pressure, individual fragments eventually dissolve and stick together, or the remaining fluid within the sediment brings in other substances that act as a cement, until the sediment has turned into rock. Scientists classify many sedimentary rocks based on the size of the particles that built the rock; mudstone and sandstone, for example, originally came from fine-grained mud and sand deposits that hardened over long time periods.

It is only chance that the United States' eastern coast is not part of Africa today. About 220 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean began to form as Africa and North America separated along a long crack that is now the mid-Atlantic Ridge. The separation was not a perfect break and some inland basins, also known as rift valleys, formed during the separation on each side of the main oceanic rift. These rift basins, or grabens, were formed as the crust faulted and large crustal blocks moved downward. Sediments filled the basins, and magma was injected into the basin from below, sometimes erupting as lava flows. The magma became diabase, and the heat from it metamorphosed the surrounding sedimentary rocks, turning them in a rock called hornfels. Eventually as the Atlantic Ocean widened, the extensional forces lessened and activity ceased in the basins. Manassas Quarry is located within one of these basins along one of these bodies of diabase.