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shale
Sign in to saveShale 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, Al2Si2O5(OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. Shale is characterized by its tendency to split into thin layers (laminae) less than one centimeter in thickness. This property is called fissility. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock.
Key facts
- Rock.name
- Shale
- Rock.type
- Sedimentary
- Rock.image
- Shale formation, Marble Canyon, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, 2025-07-11.jpg
- Rock.caption
- Shale
- Rock.composition
- Clay minerals and quartz
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Wikidata facts
- Image
- ShaleUSGOV.jpg
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- Commons category
- Shale
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- purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002056
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Article
7 sectionsContents
- Texture
- Composition and color
- Formation
- As hydrocarbon source rock
- Historical mining terminology
- References
- External links
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, Al2Si2O5(OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. Shale is characterized by its tendency to split into thin layers (laminae) less than one centimeter in thickness. This property is called fissility. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock.
The term shale is sometimes applied more broadly, as essentially a synonym for mudrock, rather than in the narrower sense of clay-rich fissile mudrock.