Fire Clay
Underclay, which consists of siliceous refractory clay rich in hydrous aluminium silicates, is also called fireclay. Just as not all underclays are fireclays, not all fireclays are underclays. Within Carboniferous and other coal bearing strata, fireclay quite commonly comprises many underclays. In Great Britain underclays, which are 1 to 3 metres ( 3 to 9 feet) thick, are major source of commercial fireclay deposits. The alteration of sediments by weathering, plants, and other soil processes comprising underclay resulted in the formation of vast majority of fireclay that comprises underclay.
Read more about this topic: Seatearth
Famous quotes containing the words fire and/or clay:
“You are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“You may melt your metals and cast them into the most beautiful moulds you can; they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into. And not only it, but the institutions upon it are plastic like clay in the hands of the potter.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)