Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NALT Concept Space
U.S. Department of Agriculture

NALT Full

Concept information

  1. Fields of Study
  2. rocks
  3. sedimentary rocks
  4. mudstone
  5. shale
  6. oil shale
  1. Natural Resources, Conservation, Environment
  2. natural resources
  3. energy resources
  4. fuels
  5. fossil fuels
  6. oil shale
  1. Natural Resources, Conservation, Environment
  2. natural resources
  3. mineral resources
  4. fossil fuels
  5. oil shale

Preferred term

oil shale

Type

  • Topic

Definition

  • Information A kerogen-bearing, finely laminated brown or black sedimentary rock that will yield liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons on distillation. Oil shale, despite the name, does not actually contain oil, but rather a type of organic matter called kerogen, a precursor of oil that is converted to a type of crude oil when heated to about 450 – 500° C.

    Source: The United States Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior

    Type: Concept definition

Broader concept

Narrower concepts

In other languages

URI

https://lod.nal.usda.gov/nalt/55741

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD Created 1/19/06, last modified 11/22/17