Shale
Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clay minerals or muds. It is characterized by thin laminae[1] breaking with an irregular curving fracture, often splintery and usually parallel to the often-indistinguishable bedding plane. This property is called fissility. Non-fissile rocks of similar composition but made of particles smaller than 1/16 mm are described as mudstones. Rocks with similar particle sizes but with less clay and therefore grittier are siltstones. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock.[2]
See also[]
- Burgess shale
- Bearpaw Shale
- Wianamatta shale
- Wheeler Shale
Footnotes[]
- ^ "shale". Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. 1999.
- ^ "Rocks: Materials of the Lithosphere - Summary". http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_lutgens_foundations_3/0,6540,354318-,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
References[]
- Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy, 1996, Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, 2nd ed., Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-2438-3
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