Clays and Shales of Indiana

Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 31Modern concepts of clays as assemblages of discrete minerals form the basis for the first reevaluation of the clays and shales of Indiana since 1933. Brief explanations of the fundamentals of clay mineralogy and the major methods of investigation of clays enable the reader to understand more fully the data obtained. Tabulated mineralogic, ceramic, and chemical data for 251 samples chosen from about 1, 000 samples give a perspective of the types, properties, and locations of clays in Indiana. These data reveal that Indiana has large reserves of clay suitable as raw material for many types of products. The most notable reserves are several abundant clays and shales for manufacturing structural clay products and cement, the Pennsylvanian underclays for use in refractories and structural clay products, and certain shales, such as the New Providence Shale, for producing lightweight aggregate.Indiana Department of Conservatio