British sculptor Stephen Kettle is notable for his use of slate to create statues housed in the Science Museum in London. Slate tiles are often used for interior and exterior flooring or wall cladding. Tiles are installed and set on mortar and grouted along the edges. Chemical sealants are often used on tiles to improve durability and appearance, increase stain resistance, reduce efflorescence, and increase or reduce surface smoothness.
Tiles are often sold gauged, meaning that the back surface is ground for ease of installation. Slate tiles were used in 19th century UK building construction apart from roofs.
They can be set into the walls to provide a rudimentary damp-proof membrane. Small offcuts are used as shims to level floor joists.
Slate is often used as a decor in freshwater aquariums. Slate will not alter the chemistry of water except in the slate containing feldspar which may leach silicates into the water resulting in excess diatom growth in marine aquaria. When broken, slate produces a natural appearance while remaining relatively flat and can be easily stacked. Silicone glue adheres to slate, creating a non-toxic bond to secure it.
It is also used in stairs and pathways for the same reasons. The area around Granville, NY, is one place where colored slate non-blue is mined. Slate can also be used as billiard table tops, commemorative tablets, and tombstones.
Home Everything you need to know about Slate Everything you need to know about Slate. Slate is considered as the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks are formed from the change in form of existing rocks, a process called metamorphism. Slate arises from the repetitive layering or foliation of metamorphic rocks, particularly through the low-grade metamorphism of shale or mudstone. It is widely used in building roofs and floors, for it being fireproof and a good electrical insulator.
It has also been popular in the use for billiard table tops, blackboards, tombstones, and commemorative tablets. It is widely used as a roofing material because of its low water absorption index of less than 0. Slate is derived from shale-type sedimentary rock of clay or volcanic ash that underwent low-grade regional metamorphism.
It is mainly composed of quartz and muscovite or illite. Some minerals like biotite, chlorite, hematite, and pyrite are also usually present in slate.
Apatite, graphite, kaolinite, magnetite, tourmaline, and feldspar are sometimes present as well, although less frequently.
Some compound mineral can also be found in slate. This includes aluminum oxide, iron oxide, potassium oxide, magnesium oxide, sodium oxide, silicone dioxide, and titanium dioxide.
The color of slate is determined by its mineral composition. Slates usually range from shades of light to dark grey in color. However, in some areas of slate industry such as in the town of Granville in New York, colored slate can be obtained. It can occur in various shades of green, red, black, purple, and brown. If hematite is abundant, a slate is usually reddish in color. Chlorite produces green slate, while sericite produces bluish-grey slate.
Carbonaceuous materials make slate appear darker grey or black, while limonite makes it yellowish-brown. Slate is formed through the regional metamorphosis of mudstone or shale under low-pressure conditions. When shale or mudstone is exposed to heavy pressure and heat from a tectonic plate activity, its clay mineral components metamorphose into mica minerals.
Mica minerals such as biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, are the main components of slate. One unique characteristic of slate is that it is formed through the process of foliation, which refers to the repetitive lamination of metamorphic rocks caused by shearing forces or differential pressure. Layers of rocks are then formed perpendicular to the direction of the pressure of metamorphic compression.
Foliation in slate is caused by the parallel orientation of platy minerals in the rock, such as microscopic grains of clay minerals and mica. These parallel mineral grain alignments give the rock an ability to break smoothly along planes of foliation. People exploit this property of slate to produce thin sheets of slate that are used in construction projects and manufacturing. Slate tile flooring: Slate is a durable rock that is suitable for use as flooring, stair treads, sidewalk slabs, and patio stone.
It is also produced in a variety of colors that allow it to be incorporated into a variety of design projects. Shown above are multi-color flooring tiles. Most of the slate mined throughout the world is used to produce roofing slates. Slate is also used for interior flooring, exterior paving, dimension stone, and decorative aggregate.
Small pieces of slate are also used to make turkey calls. The photos on this page document several uses of slate. Historically slate has been used for chalkboards, student writing slates, billiard tables, cemetery markers, whetstones, and table tops. Because it is a good electrical insulator, it was also used for early electric panels and switch boxes. What Minerals are in Slate? What is Slate Used For? Article by: Hobart M.
Find Other Topics on Geology. Slate is derived from fine-grained sediments such as mud or occasionally volcanic ash laid down millions of years ago in layers known as bedding. As the pile of sediments thickened, the original open structure of the mud was compacted into a mudstone or shale.
These rocks are easily split on the bedding planes and are referred to as flagstones. However, for a slate to form, subsequent intense geological forces associated with mountain building are required, during which the minerals present in the original mudstone are metamorphosed. Some minerals, such as quartz grains, are flattened and stretched, while clay minerals are recrystallised as platy minerals: white mica and chlorite. The quartz minerals give the slate strength and durability, while the platy minerals form cleavage planes, which do not correspond to the bedding planes, but which allow the rock to be split into much thinner slabs suitable as roofing material.
Differences in the composition of the original mudstone and the degree of metamorphism affect the quality of the slates thus produced. Slate has a long tradition as a construction material. Slate is a natural, aesthetically pleasing stone.
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