Mudstone

thumb|right|Mudstone on east beach of Lyme Regis, England Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.

thumb|upright=1.4| Petrogenetic grid for metapelites (click to zoom). Each line represents a [[metamorphic reaction. Metamorphic facies included are: BS = Blueschist facies, EC = Eclogite facies, PP = Prehnite-Pumpellyite facies, GS = Greenschist facies, EA = Epidote-Amphibolite facies, AM = Amphibolite facies, GRA = Granulite facies, UHT = Ultra-High Temperature facies, HAE = Hornfels-Albite-Epidote facies, Hbl = Hornblende-Hornfels facies, HPX = Hornfels-Pyroxene Facies, San = Sanidinite facies ]]

thumb | right Lutite is old terminology, which is not widely used, by Earth scientists in field descriptions for fine-grained, sedimentary rocks, which are composed of silt-size sediment, clay-size sediment, or a mixture of both. When mixed with water lutites often disintegrate into mud. Because this is a field term, there is a lack of any precise definition for it based upon specific grain-size characteristics. Lutites include a variety of fine-grained sedimentary rocks, including calcisiltite, calcilutite, claystone, mudstone, shale, and siltstone. It is equivalent to the term mudstone and t