Slate of finished and unfinished slate has increased. It has slate in various colors. Deposits of slate exist throughout the Australian continent, with large reserves quarried in the Adelaide Hills (Willunga and Kanmantoo) and the Mid North (Mintaro and Spalding). Because slate was formed in low heat and pressure, compared to a number of other metamorphic rocks, some fossils can be found in slate; sometimes even microscopic remains of delicate organisms can be found in slate. Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional
Slate the 20th century. For example, "roof slate" referred to shale above a coal seam, and "draw slate" referred to shale that fell from the mine roof as the coal was removed. Slate is mainly composed of the minerals quartz and muscovite or illite, often along with biotite, chlorite, hematite, and pyrite and, less frequently apatite, graphite, kaolinite, magnetite, tourmaline, or zircon as well as feldspar. Occasionally, as in the purple slates of North Wales, ferrous reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light green spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field to ovoids,