explain why sedimentary rocks are found as a veneer covering large areas of the continental igneous rocks?

Answer 1

Well it could be for any number of reasons depending upon where you are actually talking about.. but assuminb you are just talking about a general case.. here is a general answer.

The fact that the sediment is on top of the igneous rocks probably (but not neccessarily) means the sediment came later/after the igneous rocks. As I said this is not always the case.. but we are speaking in general terms.
Sedimentary rocks are most commonly formed by the erosion of prexisting rocks.. sometimes these are from metamorhphic, igneous and even other sedimentary rocks.
So one possible scenario is that the sedimentary rocks were formed over the igneous by the slow steady erosion of the igneous rocks themselves.
There are other possible scenarios.. but given this little info.. that would seem a very likely, common scenario

Hope that helps

Answer 2

Because the igneous rocks were formed first through volcanism, then the sedimentary rock was formed by sedimentation of minerals over the top of it as time passed. Make sense?

Veneer means a covering.

Answer 3

The continent is basically resting on top of a craton- an igneous mass that is present as the base of all continents. Over hundreds of millions of years, the continents have been partially covered at times by shallow seas and river and mountain systems, which have produced the sedimentary covering over much of the continents. Erosion off of mountain ranges has played a major role.

Answer 4

Sedimentary rock is formed from sediment.Like the layer of goo on the bottom of you local swimming hole.

Answer 5

Aveneer