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(geology) A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.
2007 March 23, Patricia Leigh Brown, “The Window Box Gets Some Tough Competition”, in New York Times:
As on all large green roofs, the soil is not dirt exactly but a gravel-like growing medium of granulated pumice, shales, clays and other minerals.
Usage notes
Before the mid-19th century, the terms shale, slate and schist were not sharply distinguished. Shales that are subject to heat and pressure alter into slate, then schist and finally to gneiss.
