5 Mudrocks

MUD ROCKS
Content:
Definition
Classification
Composition
Clay minerals
Environments
Fossils preservation
Mud rocks are a very fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, which
the most particles of the stone is less than 1⁄16 mm (0.0625 mm).
• Mud rocks are the least understood and among the most understudied
sedimentary rocks to date.
• Studying mud rock has been partially problematic due to their diminutive
size and susceptibility to weathering on outcrops.

• Geologic scientists accept more than one classification scheme for
mud rocks.
• Mud rocks make up 50% of the sedimentary rocks in the geologic

record.
• The most abundant product of erosion is fine sediments; therefore, these

sediments plays a significant impact to overall presence of mud rocks.
• In geology, fissility is the ability or tendency of a rock to split along
flat planes of weakness (“parting surfaces”).
• These planes of weakness are oriented parallel to stratification
in sedimentary rocks.
• Fissility is the result of sedimentary or metamorphic processes.

 Classification of mud rocks:
The term "mud rock" can be divided into four types:

 Siltstone
 Claystone
 Mudstone
 Shale
Siltstone:
• A rock can be named a siltstone if the silt-sized material were over 50%.
• Silt is any particle smaller than sand, 1/16 of a millimeter, and larger than clay, 1/256
of millimeter.
• Silt is the product of physical weathering.
• Quartz and feldspar are the biggest contributors to the silt realm, and silt tends to be
non-cohesive, non-plastic, but can liquefy easily.
Claystone:
• In order for a rock to be considered a claystone, it must consist of at least 50% clay
(less than 1/256 of a millimeter in size).
• Clay minerals are integral to mud rocks, and represent the first or second most
abundant constituent by volume.
• They make muds cohesive and plastic, or able to flow.

Mudstone:
• A mudstone is a siliciclastic sedimentary rock that contains a mixture of silt- and
clay-sized particles (at least 1/3 of each).
• In Dunham's classification, a mudstone is any limestone containing less than ten

percent carbonate grains.
• Friedman, Sanders, and Kopaska-Merkel (1992) suggest the use of "lime mudstone"
to avoid confusion with siliciclastic rocks.
Shale:
• Shale is a fine grained, hard, laminated mud rock, consisting of clay minerals, and quartz
and feldspar silt.
• Shale is lithified and cleavable. It must have at least 50% of its particles measure less
than 0.062 mm.
• There are many varieties of shale, including calcareous and organic-rich (Black shale).
• In order for a shale to be a black shale, it must contain more than one percent organic
carbon.
• A good source rock for hydrocarbons can contain up to twenty percent organic carbon.
Composition:
• Mud rocks are composed primarily of clay minerals and fine-size quartz
and feldspars.
• They also contain various amounts of other minerals, including

carbonate minerals (calcite, dolomite, siderite), sulfides (pyrite,
marcasite), iron oxides (goethite), and heavy minerals, as well as a small
amount of organic carbon.
• SiO2 is the most abundant chemical constituent in these rocks (57 - 68
percent), followed by Al203 (16-19 percent).
• The Si02 content of mud rocks is affected by all silicate minerals present
but particularly by quartz. Thus, they tend to contain less Si02 than do
sandstones, which commonly are enriched in quartz.
• Al203 is derived mainly from clay minerals and feldspars. It is more

abundant in mud rocks than in sandstones because of the greater clay
mineral content of shales.
Clay Minerals
• The three principal groups of clay minerals are the illites, the
montmorillonites or smectites, and kaolinite.
• To these three may also be added the chlorites.

• Kaolinite Group
• Kaolinite is the simplest clay mineral in structure and the purest in composition. It is
formed from feldspars both by hydrothermal alteration and by superficial weathering.
• Kaolinite often undergoes considerable crystallization during diagenesis to form

characteristic "books."
• Kaolinite is extensively used in the ceramic, paper-making, and pharmaceutical industries.
• Pure kaolinite rocks are nonmarine in origin because kaolinite quickly transforms to more
complex clays in the presence of seawater.
• Illite Group
• The illite clays, sometimes termed the hydromicas, are three-layer aluminosilicates
with up to 8% K2O.
• This potassium may either be present due to the incomplete degradation of potash
feldspars to kaolinite, or to diagenesis of kaolinite within a marine environment.
• Illite is the most abundant clay mineral in sediments but it is less obvious than
kaolinite because it is seldom present in crystals that can be seen with an optical
microscope
• Smectite Group
• The third group of clay minerals is the smectites, of which montmorillonite is the chief
example.
• These are three-layer lattice types which have the unusual property of expanding and
contracting to adsorb or lose water.
• Montmorillonite can contain up 20% water as well as calcium and magnesium.
• Mud rocks composed largely of smectite clays are termed bentonites.

• Chlorite
• The chlorites are similar to the clay minerals just described in many
ways, but also share affinities with the mica mineral group.
• The chlorites are mixed-layer lattice clays with up to 9% FeO and 30%
MgO.
• Chlorites occur as an alteration product of primary micas

Depositional Environments
• Most mud rocks form in oceans or lakes, because these environments provide the
quiet waters necessary for deposition.
• Although mud rocks can be found in every depositional environment on Earth, the
majority are found in lakes and oceans.
• Alluvial environments
• These systems have a continuous source of water, and can contribute mud through
overbank sedimentation, when mud and silt is deposited overbank during flooding,
and oxbow sedimentation where an abandoned stream is filled by mud.
Glaciers
• Vast quantities of mud and till are generated by glaciations and deposited on land as
till and in lakes.
• Glaciers can erode already susceptible mud rock formations, and this process
enhances glacial production of clay and silt.
Non-glacial lakes
• Ancient lakes are the largest and deepest in the world, and hold up to twenty percent
of today's petroleum reservoirs.
• They are also the second most abundant source of mud rocks, behind marine mud
rocks.
• Deltas
• Delta environments are found at the mouth of a river, where its waters
slow as they enter the ocean, and silt and clay are deposited.
• Low energy deltas, which deposit a great deal of mud, are located in
lakes, gulfs, seas, and small oceans, where coastal currents are also low
Marine environments
• 70-percent of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, and marine

environments are where we find the world's highest proportion of mud
rocks.
• There are various environments in the oceans, including deep-sea trenches,

abyssal plains, volcanic seamounts, convergent, divergent, and transform
plate margins.
Fossils preservation
• Fossils are well preserved in mud rock formations, because the fine-grained rock
protects the fossils from erosion, dissolution, and other processes of erosion.
• As most of the mud rocks are formed in calm water environment, they tend to preserve
the organism with them without getting affected by the currents.
• The very small mud and clay particles allow small details of organisms to be preserved.
Petroleum and natural gas
• Mud rocks, especially black shale, are the source and containers of precious petroleum
sources throughout the world.
• Mud rocks are impermeable, and often, if the mud rock is not black shale, it remains
useful as a seal to petroleum and natural gas reservoirs.
Minerals
• Metamorphosed shale can hold emerald and gold, and mudrocks can host ore metals
such as lead and zinc.

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MUD ROCKS

sedimentary rocks to date.

size and susceptibility to weathering on outcrops.

• Mud rocks make up 50% of the sedimentary rocks in the geologic

• The most abundant product of erosion is fine sediments; therefore, these

flat planes of weakness (“parting surfaces”).

• These planes of weakness are oriented parallel to stratification

• Fissility is the result of sedimentary or metamorphic processes.

The term "mud rock" can be divided into four types:

• Silt is the product of physical weathering.

(less than 1/256 of a millimeter in size).

abundant constituent by volume.

• They make muds cohesive and plastic, or able to flow.

• In Dunham's classification, a mudstone is any limestone containing less than ten

• They also contain various amounts of other minerals, including

• Al203 is derived mainly from clay minerals and feldspars. It is more

• To these three may also be added the chlorites.

• Kaolinite often undergoes considerable crystallization during diagenesis to form

• Kaolinite is extensively used in the ceramic, paper-making, and pharmaceutical industries.

• Mud rocks composed largely of smectite clays are termed bentonites.

• Chlorites occur as an alteration product of primary micas

• 70-percent of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, and marine

• There are various environments in the oceans, including deep-sea trenches,

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