Shales and Reconstruction of Ancient Environments.

If you don't know where you are going --it's the journey that counts!

Shales and mudstones are very fine grained terrigenous clastic sedimentary rocks, and they constitute approximately two-thirds of all sediments on earth. Even though a major share of the earth's sedimentary record and thus its history is recorded in them, shales and mudstones have been studied very little because of their fine grain size. Recent research has demonstrated that a lot of valuable information can be extracted from shales and mudstones, pertaining to ancient environments, climates, ocean circulation, and the history of life.
Further studies will be beneficial to the solution of engineering problems associated with ground movements in the construction of roads and houses as these are often linked to underlying shale and mudstone formations. Also, shales and mudstones are the primary source of hydrocarbons, and better understanding of these materials, their composition, and the forces that bind them may be helpful in the search for energy resources for the future.

Shales ... the final frontier of sedimentary geology. (click for information on current research projects)

On these pages you will have an opportunity to learn about ongoing research projects by my students and myself. Projects we are working on include an extensive study of the Late Devonian Chattanooga Shale of Tennessee and adjacent areas (New Albany Shale, Ohio Shale). Aspects of this study are: sequence stratigraphy of the Chattanooga Shale, basin analysis, shale facies, depositional environments, tracing of erosion surfaces and hiatuses, petrography, and a study of bioturbation. In the process we have also found a very interesting suite of diagenetic sedimentary grains (silica fills in Tasmanites cysts, pyrite spheres, pyrite ooids, phosphate grains) that are important components of lag deposits on erosion surfaces and sequence boundaries. In the Shale Photo pages that are linked to this page you can currently see pictures of pyrite ooids, silica filled cysts, sedimentary structures, shale microfabrics, microbial mat features, and bioturbation in shales. Other shales and mudstones we are investigating are part of the Green River Formation (Eocene), the Posidonia Shale (Jurassic), the Belt Series (Proterozoic), the Moenkopi Formation (Triassic), the Blackhawk Formation and Mancos Shale (Cretaceous), and of Pennsylvanian cyclothems in the Fort Worth Basin.

Hatch Mesa, a southern outlier of the Book Cliffs of central Utah. The exposed sediments are interbedded sandstones and shales of the Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation.

....Behold the Power of Mud ! ! !

It is uphill all the way, and there are no shortcuts.

schieber@uta.edu (click to send me mail)

© Jürgen Schieber, UTA Department of Geology

Last updated: March 12, 2001.

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