Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that is formed by the compression of muds. This type of rock is composed primarily of quartz and minerals that are found in clay. Shales can be broken easily into thin, parallel layers.
Shale is ground up for use in making bricks and cement. Sedimentary rock - pronounced sehd uh MEHN tuhr ee, is rock formed when mineral matter or remains of plants and animals settle out of water or, less commonly, out of air or ice. Sedimentary rock covers about three-fourths of the earth's land area and most of the ocean floor. In some places, such as at the mouth of the Mississippi River, sedimentary rocks are more than 40, feet 12, meters thick. Sedimentary rock is one of three major kinds of rock.
The others are igneous rock Granite and metamorphic rock Marble. There are many types of sedimentary rock and they have a variety of uses.
The most common sedimentary rock is shale. It is made of compressed mud--that is, a mixture of clay and silt fine particles of mineral matter. Shale is used in making bricks. Limestone, another common sedimentary rock, is made chiefly of the mineral calcite.
Limestone is used for building, for making chalk, and for various other purposes. Cement is made of limestone with a little shale mixed in.
The earliest Government buildings, however, were constructed with stones from nearby sources because it was too difficult and expensive to move heavy materials such as stone any great distance without the aid Ever wondered what the difference between a rock and a mineral was?
This EarthWord should cover it Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks that are made up of various fragments of rock interspersed with finer grained material. This particular conglomerate was deposited as a fan on the northwest side of the Culpeper Basin. Large-scale cross-beds in the Paleogene Coalmont Formation southwest of Walden, Colorado, formed as a delta complex within a persistent lake.
Sediments were chiefly eroded from the Proterozoic basement of the Park Range block to the west and transported a short distance to the Colorado Headwaters Basin.
Bryce Canyon is a unique sandstone formation in southern Utah. It is home to a large number of hoodoos, which are oddly shaped pillars of rock that formed due to different. Geological Survey. These beds are interpreted as products of alluvial sedimentation in a deltaic setting. Skip to main content. Search Search. Apply Filter. It is smoothly rounded on three sides and a sheer vertical face on the fourth. Half Dome, which stands nearly 8, feet 2, meters above sea level, is composed of granodiorite, and is the remains of a magma chamber that cooled slowly and crystallized Is glacier ice a type of rock?
Glacier ice, like limestone for example , is a type of rock. Glacier ice is actually a mono-mineralic rock a rock made of only one mineral, like limestone which is composed of the mineral calcite. The mineral ice is the crystalline form of water H 2 O. Most glacier ice forms through the metamorphism of tens of thousands of individual Are there geologic maps or publications for where I live?
Detailed geologic mapping has not been completed for the entire United States, but maps are available for most locations. Geologic maps at many scales and from many sources are listed in the National Geologic Map Database. Download digital geologic maps for entire states Where can I find information about the geology and natural history of National Parks?
Our National Parks are the showcases of our nation's geological heritage. The National Park Service has websites for most individual parks that include information about their geology and natural history.
The website has listings for regions of the country What is the difference between a rock and a mineral? Petroleum and natural gas are probably the most familiar hydrocarbons.
The hydrocarbons in oil shale can be used as an alternative to petroleum or natural gas. Like traditional petroleum, natural gas, and coal, oil shale and kerogen are fossil fuels. Fossil fuel s developed from the remains of algae, spores, plants, pollen, and a variety of other organisms that lived millions of years ago in ancient lakes, seas, and wetland s.
When these organisms died and drifted to the seabed, they were buried under new layers of plants and sediment. They encountered intense pressure and heat, decomposed, and slowly transformed into the waxy substance known as kerogen. There is not a consistent chemical composition of kerogen, because it has a variety of origins. Kerogen that formed from land plants called humic kerogen usually has a higher oxygen content than kerogen formed from plankton called planktonic kerogen.
However, all types of kerogen consist mainly of hydrocarbons; smaller amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen; and a variety of mineral s. Oil shale can be thought of as a precursor to oil and natural gas. A sedimentary rock, oil shale is found all over the world, including China, Israel, and Russia. The United States, however, has the most shale resources. Spanning the U. Although not all of this can be extracted, it is more than three times the proven petroleum reserves of Saudi Arabia.
Oil shale, shale oil, and oil-bearing shale are three different substances. Oil shale is a sedimentary rock. As it reaches its oil window, oil shale releases a liquid known as shale oil. Oil shale is the rock from which shale oil is extract ed. Shale oil is similar to petroleum, and can be refined into many different substances, including diesel fuel, gasoline , and liquid petroleum gas LPG.
Companies can also refine shale oil to produce other commercial products, such as ammonia and sulfur. The spent rock can be used in cement. Oil-bearing shale s are underground rock formations that contain trapped petroleum.
Companies extracting tight oil often use hydraulic fracturing fracking , while companies extracting shale oil most often use heat. The Bakken formation , for example, is made of oil-bearing shale.
It is a series of layered shale rocks with a petroleum reservoir trapped between the layers. The Bakken formation stretches from the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, through the U. Improved drilling technologies have allowed companies to extract oil from the Bakken formation, creating an economic boom in the region. Oil shales are often classified by their depositional history and mineral content.
The depositional history of an oil shale includes the organisms and sediments that were deposited, as well as how those deposits interacted with pressure and heat.
The van Krevelen Diagram is a method of classifying oil shales based on their depositional history. The diagram divides oil shales according to where they were deposited: in lakes lacustrine , in the ocean marine , or on land terrestrial.
Oil shales from lacustrine environments formed mostly from algae living in freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water. Lamosite and torbanite are types of oil shales associated with lacustrine environments. Lamosite deposits make up some of the largest oil shale formations in the world. Oil shales from marine environments formed mostly from deposits of algae and plankton. Kukersite, tasmanite, and marinite are types of marine shales.
Tasmanite is named after the region in which it was discovered, the island of Tasmania, Australia. Marinite, the most abundant of all oil shales, is found in environments that once held wide, shallow seas.
Although marinite is abundant, it is often a thin layer and not economically practical to extract. The largest marinite deposits in the world are in the United States, stretching from the states of Indiana and Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee. Oil shales from terrestrial environments formed in shallow bog s and swamp s with low amounts of oxygen. The deposits were mostly the waxy or corky stems of hardy plants.
Cannel coal was used primarily as fuel for streetlights and other illumination in the 19th century. Oil shales are classified in three main types based on their mineral content: carbonate-rich shale, siliceous shale, and cannel shale. Carbonate-rich shale deposits have high amounts of carbonate minerals. Carbonate minerals are made of various forms of the carbonate ion a unique compound of carbon and oxygen. Calcite, for instance, is a carbonate mineral common in carbonate-rich shales.
Calcite is a primary component of many marine organisms. Calcite helps form the shells and hard exteriors of oysters, sea stars, and sand dollars. Plankton, red algae, and sponges are also important sources of calcite.
Siliceous shale is rich in the mineral silica, or silicon dioxide. Siliceous shale formed from organisms such as algae, sponges, and microoganisms called radiolarians.
Algae have a cell wall made of silica, while sponges and radiolarians have skeletons or spicule s made of silica. Siliceous oil shale is sometimes not as hard as carbonate-rich shale, and can more easily be mined. Cannel shale has terrestrial origins, and is often classified as coal. It is made up from the remains of resin, spores, and corky materials from woody plants.
It can contain the minerals inertinite and vitrinite. Cannel shale is rich in hydrogen, and burns easily. People have been using oil shale for thousands of years. Ancient Mesopotamia ns used shale oil to pave roads and caulk ships. Ancient Mongolians dipped the tips of their arrows in shale oil during battles, sending flaming arrows at their enemies. In the Middle East, sticky shale oil was even a component of decorative mosaic s. The modern shale industry began in the 19th century.
This industry used industrial processes to heat shale in order to extract oil. Shale oil was used for a variety of products, including paraffin wax.
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