Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., kaolin, Al 2 Si 2 O 5 4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. [1]

Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms from the compaction of silt and clay-size mineral particles that we commonly call "mud." This composition places shale in a category of sedimentary rocks known as " mudstones ."

Aug 21, 2023 · Shale is a fine-grained rock made of compressed mud and clay. The defining characteristic of the shales is its fragility. In other words, shale is easily divided into thin layers.

Jun 9, 2020 · Shale is a type of clastic sedimentary rock that contains mud, flakes of clay minerals and a trace amount of other minerals. More precisely, shale is a thin layer of mudstone. Mudstones have several parallel layers of material.

Mudstones and shales are made of silt- and clay-sized particles that are too small to see. The only difference between mudstone and shale is that mudstones break into blocky pieces whereas shales break into thin chips with roughly parallel tops and bottoms. Both are made of ancient mud.

Shales are often found with layers of sandstone or limestone. They typically form in environments where muds, silts, and other sediments were deposited by gentle transporting currents and became compacted, as, for example, the deep-ocean floor, basins of shallow seas, river floodplains, and playas.

Aug 2, 2020 · Shale is the most common sedimentary rock, accounting for about 70 percent of the rock found in the Earth's crust. It is a fine-grained clastic sedimentary rock made of compacted mud consisting of clay and tiny particles of quartz, calcite, mica, pyrite, other minerals, and organic compounds.

Shale is a fine-grained clastic sedimentary rock characterized by its fissility, shale readily cleaves into thin, typically less than 1 centimeter thick, laminae. Shale primarily composed of clay minerals, along with minor constituents like quartz and calcite.

Shale is a fine grained, hard, laminated mudrock, consisting of clay minerals, and quartz and feldspar silt. Shale is lithified and cleavable. It must have at least 50-percent of its particles measure less than 0.062 mm.

Generally, shale occurs in thin layers or beds and represent low-energy environments such as: offshore deposits of mud in ancient seas, in quiet lakes or lagoons, or on stream floodplains. Leaves and other plant remains occur as thin carbonized fossils in …