Home › Words › S › slickensslickensslickens means fine, harmful, and (when wet) slimy pulverized rock, a waste product (pollution) produced by hydraulic mining and quartz milling, which can silt up rivers and accumulate on soil downstream of such activities.EtymologyUltimately a reference to the slimy, slick nature of the material. Compare slicken (“smooth”, adjective), slick (noun).nounFine, harmful, and (when wet) slimy pulverized rock, a waste product (pollution) produced by hydraulic mining and quartz milling, which can silt up rivers and accumulate on soil downstream of such activities.e.g.“For quotations using this term, see Citations:slickens.”Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).