Textural Analysis of

Clastic Sedimentary
Rocks

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 Texture of Sedimentary
Rocks Part 1
Reflects the • Aspects of textural analysis
processes of
deposition
– Grain Size
– Grain Morphology
– Grain Surface Texture
– Sedimentary Fabric (grains
put together)

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 Grain Size

• Defined by Udden-Wentworth
Scale (handout)

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Grain Size
Udden-Wentworth
Analysis Scale

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Grain Size
Analysis
Φ
Φ = -log2G (grain size in mm)
– Makes calculations easier:
– Large Φ finer grain size
„ Grain-size measurement:
„ Ruler

„ Sieve (unconsolidated sands)

„ Graticule measurement in t.s

(consolidated sedimentary rock)
„ Settling/ Laser techniques on
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suspensions
 Assessing Grain Size
Grain Size
Analysis Distributions
• Plot histogram of number of grains of a given
size range against all size ranges

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Grain Size
Analysis

• Histogram may be:

– Unimodal
– Bimodal
– Polymodal

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Grain Size Sorting
Analysis
„ Sorting:
„ Measure of the standard deviation
of the distribution

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Grain Size
Analysis Sorting gauge

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Grain Size • Sorting shows how effective
Analysis
the depositional medium
(gravity, water, wind) is in
separating grains of different
size.
• Desert: good sorting.
• Glacier: very poor.

• Factors involved:
• Source.
• Grain size.
• Depositional mechanism.
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 Good sorting

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 Poor Sorting

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Grain Size Skewness
Analysis
• Symmetry about the mean grain
size distribution
• E.g. beach deposition tends to be
negative: waves winnow the fine particles

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Grain Size Grain Size Trends
Analysis
• Deposition over large area
often shows a trend
• Deltas: finer grained seawards
• Rivers: finer grained downstream
• Sea: continental shelf deposition

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Grain Size
Analysis Graded Bedding
• Coarse
Keep an
base fine top.
– Decelerating flow (e.g. turbidity currents).
eye out
for this in
– Common.
thin
• Fine base coarse top.
sections
– Reverse/ inverted grading : uncommon.
– E.g. Delta deposits.

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Grain Size
Analysis Graded bedding

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 Grain Morphology
• Shape
• Measured in x,y,z dimensions
• Sphericity
• How closely the grain approximates a sphere
• Roundness
• Degree of curvature of grain corners
• N.B. High roundness does NOT necessarily imply
high sphericity

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 Grain Shape
• Grain shape comprises attributes
which refer to the external
morphology of particles. These
include surface texture, roundness
and form. Grain shape (Bustin,
1995) is determined by:

ƒ internal structure, (mineral cleavage);

ƒ characteristics of source rock such as
jointing and bedding;
ƒ lithology
ƒ hardness
ƒ fracture
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ƒ transport
Form & Sphericity

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Roundness/ Angularity
• defined as the average radius
of curvature of corners (ri in
figure) to that of the largest
inscribing circle (R in figure).
• As you can see, very tricky.

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 Well rounded, well sorted
Roundness
& Angularity

Poorly rounded, poorly sorted

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 Grain • Roundness influenced by:
Morphology • Mineralogy
• (e.g. mica breaks down easily…)
• Source Rock:
• weathered material often well
rounded before transport begins
(e.g. Causeway basalts)
• Degree of abrasion suffered
during transport
• Post depositional chemical
attack
• Degree of roundness
reflects duration of transport
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Angularity Classification

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 Grain Surface Texture
• Useful in inferring mechanism of transport:
– E.g.
• Striations on pebble surface : scratched during ice
transport.
• Impact marks on pebbles: common in beach and
river channel deposits.

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 Sedimentary Fabric
• Preferred orientation of grains:
usually aligned parallel to
water flow direction :
Palaeocurrent Indicator.

PREFERRED ORIENTATION
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GRAINS
 „Packing: how well the grains are
packed together.
Packing ‹affects porosity and permeability.
Well sorted sand: lot of spaces
after packing: good porosity.
Poorly sorted sand – smaller
particles fill voids – lower porosity
and K.

CUBIC PACKING RHOMBOHAEDRAL PACKING

(48% POROSITY)
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Grain Contacts/ Fabrics
• Concavo-convex.
– Well packed.
• Sutured.
– Point contacts: dissolution.
Increased burial causes further
penetration of point contacts.

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 Types of
grain contacts

POINT CONTACTS CONCAVO-CONVEX

CONTACTS

SUTURED CONTACTS
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 Support
Support

GRAIN-SUPPORTED MATRIX-SUPPORTED
FABRIC FABRIC

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 Matrix and Cement
• Very important to distinguish these:

– Cement: chemically precipitated

– Matrix: mechanically deposited (e.g. clay
infills)

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 The ability of rocks to store (porosity) and
Matrix & transmit (permeability) fluids is one of the
Cement most important properties of sediments in
economic and engineering terms.
At deposition, sediments are extremely
porous with very high volumes of voids
(space) per unit volume of sediment.
Cementation:
Reduces porosity and permeability.

Common cements: Calcite, silica, iron

oxides .
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Matrix &
Infilling:
Cement
Pore space is infilled by finer sediments:
both porosity and permeability are
reduced dramatically.
Clean sands free from fines (silt and
clay) make the best aquifers and reservoir
rocks.
Dirty sands have the porosity plugged by
fine particles.

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Matrix &
Cement

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 Estimating Textural
Maturity
• Immature
– Poor sorting
– Angular grains
– High matrix content
• Mature
– No matrix
– Moderate-good sorting
– Degree of rounding
• Supermature
– No matrix
– Very good sorting
– High degree of roundness
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• Both porosity and K increase
with textural maturity
• Textural maturity reflects
depositional processes
• Little current activity: immature sed
(glaciers, some rivers)
• High current activity: mature
(deserts, beaches)

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 Composition
• Also indicates textural maturity:
• TRANSPORT BREAKS SOFTER GRAINS
DOWN SO:

– Mature: high quartz content, low lithics,

feldspar, micas etc.

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 Provenancing: Quartz

ƒ different quartz grains present

can give clues as to its origin:
ƒ common (plutonic)
ƒ volcanic
ƒ vein
ƒ recrystallized metamorphic
ƒ schistose metamorphic
ƒ stretched metamorphic
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 Vein
Quartz

•Abundant vacuoles; sometimes

vermicular chlorite; rarely, zoned
phantom crystals
•semi-composite to straight or
undulose extinction, some may be
badly sheared. Often shows comb
structure.
•Often forms large grains and pebbles.
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Schistose
quartz

•elongate, composite with straight borders

•mica incusions
•straight to slightly undulose extinction
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Provenancing: Feldspars

• Feldspars:
– K-spar: derivation from alkaline
plutonics or metamorphics.
– sodic plagioclases: derivation from
alkaline volcanic rocks.
– calcic plagioclases: derivation from
basic volcanic rocks.
• Plagioclase zoning:
– oscillatory (microscale) zoning:
volcanic or hypabyssal origin.
– progressive (coarse) zoning: igneous
source, undifferentiated.
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 Provenancing: stability
ƒ Relative chemical stability and
degree of weathering also helps
geologists to interpret climate
and relief of a source area.
Examples:
ƒPresence of fresh, large, angular feldspar
fragments in a sandstone imply:
ƒa high relief source area (rapid erosion,
transport, burial, with little weathering effect
OR
ƒa very arid or extremely cold climate
(retards chemical weathering)

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 Provenancing: stability
ƒ Small, rounded, highly weathered
feldspars imply:
ƒ a low relief source area and/or warm, humid
climate (modern-intense weathering
processes)
ƒ Absence of feldspars imply:
ƒ intense weathering (destroying feldspars) OR
ƒ no feldspars in original source

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Feldspar Sources

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