Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 1. Basic Textural Attributes. 2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data.

3B. Clastic Minerals and Particles. 1. Review of Macroscopic Properties of Common Clastic Minerals. 2. Quartz. 3. Feldspars. 4. Rock Fragments. 5. Accessory Minerals.
3C. Carbonate Minerals and Particles. 1. Carbonate Minerals. 2. Basic Carbonate Chemistry. 3. Carbonate Particles. 3D. Clay Minerals. 1. Common Clay Minerals and Their Crystal Structure. 2. Stability and Properties of Clays. 3. Clay Mineral Sources.
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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

Sediments and sedimentary rocks are by definition a collection of particles, which are derived ultimately from the weathering of preexisting rock and deposited as

broken fragments, biologically mediate mineral precipitates, or direct chemical precipitates.

Part 3 focuses on the texture and composition of framework and matrix grains of the generic sedimentary rock. A reasonable starting point is a discussion of the textural attributes of sedimentary particles.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes.
1. Basic Textural Attributes. 2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data.

3B. Clastic Minerals and Particles. 1. Review of Macroscopic Properties of Common Clastic Minerals. 2. Quartz. 3. Feldspars. 4. Rock Fragments. 5. Accessory Minerals.
3C. Carbonate Minerals and Particles. 1. Carbonate Minerals. 2. Basic Carbonate Chemistry. 3. Carbonate Particles. 3D. Clay Minerals. 1. Common Clay Minerals and Their Crystal Structure. 2. Stability and Properties of Clays. 3. Clay Mineral Sources. 1/2/2014 Geology 3153 Part 3A.

Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. In our attempts to understand the origin of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks, we consider the meaning and significance of the 3 basic rock attributes: texture size and shape of constituent minerals and particles, composition mineral or chemical composition of a rock, and fabric spatial arrangement of constituent minerals and particles.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. The 3 basic textural attributes are grain: size, shape, and roundness. Although it is convenient to define each attribute for a single grain, ultimately we are interested in each attribute for a collection of grains. As we shall see, each attribute provides clues as to the origin of the collection of grains.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. a. Grain Size. Grain size is easy to understand (i.e. measurement of grain diameter); however, it is more difficult to find accurate and efficient methods for measuring grain size, particularly for a collection of grains. Our task would be fairly straight forward if natural particles were all spheres or cubes; however, this is rarely the case. Instead, natural particles are better approximated by an ellipsoid with: a-axis = long axis dimension, b-axis = intermediate axis, and c-axis = short axis. So particle size depends on shape; both size and shape are measured depending on the method used, and both affect hydraulic behavior of a grain.
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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. The Grain Size Scale. The most commonly used classification of sedimentary grain size for individual grains, collection of unconsolidated grains or aggregates of framework grains in a rock is known as

Udden-Wentworth Grain Size Scale.

This scale is divided in grain size classes that have boundaries set at the next largest size boundaries; this convention arises from using sieve screen apertures set divisions for convenience.

It is much easier to refer to grain collections in terms of grain size class names ( = Wentworth Scale).

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. The Grain Size Scale. Unfortunately, the definition of Wentworth class boundaries is not linear it is a log2 scale using mm measurements. A simple transformation of the original nonlinear scale in to a linear scale is the Phi Scale

f=

__

log2 d

where, d = grain size in mm

This is Uddens contribution to the standard grain size scale.

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Conglomerates
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Mudrocks

Sandstones

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. b. Grain Shape. Grain shape is often referred to as sphericity, an unfortunate term because it conjures up the image of a sphere, which is an equidimensional perfectly round object. Shape and roundness are separate grain attributes and should not be confused. Although grain shape can be quantified using a number of equations (see notes), most approaches are simply not practical how long would your manager wait for you to measure three particle axes (a, b and c) on say 200 grains?.

The Zingg Shape Classes provide a practical approach by considering two ratios and providing comparative images for each of the 4 shape classes.
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3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. Zingg shape class boundaries are placed at 2/3 of b/a = DI/DL and c/b = DS/DI What every-day objects can you think of that would be representative of each shape class? How about sedimentary particles?
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3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. c. Grain Roundness. As a general definition, grain roundness is the degree to which the corners and edges of a particle are rounded or angular. As with grain shape, a precise, quantitative definition can be offered to describe grain roundness (see notes); however, this is not a practical approach. As an alternative, simple comparison to an image gauge of roundness is practical Powers Scale.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. d. Meaning of the Textural Attributes. Why should we be interested, beyond simple classification or characterization? Grain size: can be related to current flow strength, and thus, it is an indication of proximity to source and certain depositional environments. Grain shape: largely controlled by inherited properties of rocks or minerals; in case of fossil fragments, it is reflective of skeletal shape. Grain roundness: results from abrasion history; exceptions are fossil fragments.
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3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.1. Basic Textural Attributes. e. Hydraulic Equivalence. Is it possible to find sedimentary particles of different textural attributes deposited together? Hint: think of placer gold (19.30 g/cc).
increasing settling velocity

Yes, it is common for grains of varying size, shape and density to be deposited together. This is explained by Hydraulic Equivalence.

increasing grain size

Nonequants, and Lower r

Higher r
Equant Quartz (r = 2.65)

Grains of varying roundness occur together, they are Hydraulic equivalence states that grains having not explained by the same settling velocity are deposited together hydraulic equivalency. regardless of their size, shape or density.
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3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data.

Recall that we are generally interested in collection of sedimentary particles. Thus, measurements of many individual particles can be graphed and statistical measures calculated to represent the distribution of the aggregate.
See the 4 methods described in notes (section 3A.2.a) Each of the these methods have their advantages and disadvantages, as well as degrees of practicality. Our attention here turns to graphing of data from the sieve analysis method.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. b. Graphing of Grain Size Distribution. Working an example of sieve data is helpful. Note: by the nature of how sieves capture grains, data are tabulated from coarse to fine the right column tabulates cumulative percent coarser.
Wenthworth Class Pebble (and bigger) Granule Very Coarse Sand Coarse Sand Medium Sand Fine Sand Very Fine Sand Coarse Silt Phi Scale __ 2 __ 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Weight Cumulative Percent Percent 0.0 0.0 2.4 2.4 16.3 18.7 33.9 52.6 28.3 80.9 12.4 93.3 4.0 97.3 2.8 100.1

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. A histogram graph provides a good overall view of the sieve grain size distribution. Note: data value (Weight Percent) is plotted to the left of the lower bin limit for each grain size class following the coarser than convention. Note: the far right class was not subdivided in the data table.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. A cumulative percent linear scale vs. grain size (f) is a common chart usually as an intermediate step to the next chart. This plot can be difficult to interpret.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. A cumulative percent probability scale vs. grain size (f) is a very useful chart. 1) By definition, a so-called normal (or Gaussian or bell curve) plots as a straight line. Thus, it is easily interpreted from the shape of the plot more about this shortly.

2) The values for calculating the statistical measures are easily read from this chart.
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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. c. Statistical Description. Statistical descriptors can be used to describe the collection of grain sizes found in a given sample. Formulation of statistical measures have been adapted for grain size analysis using the f scale. Table 3-3 (next slide) provides the formulae for calculating the statistical measures (note: Skewness formula requires clarification). Notation is:

f16 = f grain size (x axis) of the 16th percentile (y axis) f84 = f grain size (x axis) of the 84th percentile (y axis)
These equations use f5 , f16 , f84 and f95 a lot, why?
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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

Table 3-3. Note change to Skewness formula. Draw graphs to illustrate variations in each.
Measures of Central Tendency Graphic Mean = ( f16 + f50 + f84 ) / 3 Median = f50 Mode = midpoint of most abundant size class on histogram Modal Class = most abundant size class on histogram Sorting = [ (f84 - f16 ) / 4 ] + [ (f95 - f5 < 0.35f 0.36f 0.50f 0.50f 0.71f 0.71f 1.00f 1.00f 2.00f > 2.00f Skewness = { (f84 + f16 2 f50 ) / ( 2 (f84 > +0.30 +0.30 to +0.10 +0.10 to 0.10 -0.10 to 0.30 < -0.30

) / 6.6 ] Very well sorted Well sorted Moderately well sorted Moderately sorted Poorly sorted Very poorly sorted - f16 ) )} + { (f95 + f5 2 f50 ) / ( 2 (f95 - f5 ) )} Strongly fine-skewed Fine-skewed Unskewed (symmetrical) Coarse-skewed Strongly coarse-skewed

Kurtosis = ( f95 - f5 ) / 2.44 ( f75 - f25 ) > 1.0 Leptokurtic 1.0 Mesokurtic < 1.0 Platykurtic

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. d. Meaning of the Statistical Parameters of Grain Size. Sedimentary geologists have applied the Principle of Uniformitarianism to understand the meaning of grain size distributions and interpret ancient rocks sample modern, known environments, characterize grain size distribution and use grain size distributions to interpret the ancient. However, caution is required in required because bias can be introduced by grain size method used; and post-depositional changes can modify framework Having said this, we can make some generalizations.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. Meaning of measures of central tendency: approximates the average current strength at time deposition; median is better because most natural distributions are skewed; flow competence (maximum size a current can transport) is estimated by 10th percentile. Meaning of sorting: indication of current variation, compare: current varies little over the long term on a beach vs. highly variable current in a river.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. Meaning of skewness and kurtosis: Although sedimentary geologists have attempt to use these parameters individually to characterize sedimentary process or environments, such attempts have not yielded consistent results. It is generally assumed that the grain size distribution of clastic particles released from weathering processes approximates a normal distribution. Therefore, variations from a normal distribution in terms of skewness and kurtosis represents modifying processes in transport or at the sight of deposition.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. For example: skewed distributions can arise from mixing of grain size distributions derived from different sources (illustrate); non-mesokurtic distributions can result from special transport processes that remove or add grain sizes to the tails of a normal distribution (illustrate). Skewness or kurtosis combined with other parameters can be useful in discriminating sedimentary process or environment.

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Part 3. Sedimentary Minerals and Particles.

3A. Textural Attributes. 3A.2. Graphical and Quantitative Treatment of Grain Size Data. Figure 3-7. How many variables are represented in this plot? Where is the center for skewness and sorting for each of the environmental settings? What generalizations can we make?

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