earth science

Nonesuch Shale

Nonesuch Shale is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nonesuch Shale rather than just read about it. In short: The Nonesuch Shale is a Proterozoic geologic formation that outcrops in Michigan and Wisconsin, United States, but has been found by drill holes to extend in the subsurface as far southwest as Iowa. The Nonesuch is a lacustrine sequence of shale, siltstone, and sandstone, 150 to 210 m thick, that conformably overlies the alluvial Copper Harbor Conglomerate and is conformably overlain by the fluvial Freda Sandstone.

Key takeaways

Nonesuch Shale belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nonesuch Shale to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nonesuch Shale from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Nonesuch Shale is a Proterozoic geologic formation that outcrops in Michigan and Wisconsin, United States, but has been found by drill holes to extend in the subsurface as far southwest as Iowa. The Nonesuch is a lacustrine sequence of shale, siltstone, and sandstone, 150 to 210 m thick, that conformably overlies the alluvial Copper Harbor Conglomerate and is conformably overlain by the fluvial Freda Sandstone. Together, the Copper Harbor, Nonesuch, and Freda make up the Oronto Group. The Nonesuch is Middle Proterozoic, with an estimated age of approximately 1.1 billion years. It was deposited in the Midcontinent Rift. The Nonesuch beds contain common organic carbon and pyrite.

Natural resources The Nonesuch Formation has been a major source of copper, and is considered a prospective source of petroleum.

Copper Copper was discovered in the Nonesuch in the 1800s, but early mining efforts, such as those at the Nonesuch Mine in Ontonagon County, Michigan, failed because of the difficulty of recovering the fine grains of native copper. The Copper Range Company opened the White Pine mine in Ontonagon County, Michigan, in 1955. The principal ore minerals were chalcocite and native copper. The underground mine produced copper from the Nonesuch Shale until it closed in 1995.

Petroleum The Nonesuch Shale has sufficient organic carbon content (greater than 0.5%) to be considered a potential sourcebed for petroleum. Oil identified as Precambrian has been found seeping into the White Pine copper mine in Michigan. Exploration wells have been drilled to Nonesuch-equivalent sediments in the rift basins in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, but no commercial petroleum deposits have been discovered.

See also Copper mining in Michigan Midcontinent Rift

References

External links Iowa Geological Survey: Exploring the Midcontinent Rift, PDF file, retrieved 27 December 2008.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nonesuch Shale

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nonesuch Shale claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nonesuch Shale before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nonesuch Shale ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nonesuch Shale

In research: Nonesuch Shale appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nonesuch Shale in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nonesuch Shale is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geologic formations of Michigan, Geologic formations of Wisconsin, Lagerstätten, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nonesuch Shale outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Nonesuch Shale” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Nonesuch Shale in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nonesuch Shale means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nonesuch Shale out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nonesuch Shale in simple terms?

Why does Nonesuch Shale matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nonesuch Shale?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nonesuch Shale.