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Statistical Methods in Sedimentary Petrology.1 Part I. Percentage Composition of Assemblages and their Graphical Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Frank Smithson
Frank Smithson
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London.
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Extract

In recent years much work has been done in determining the quantitative—or more strictly “numerical”—composition of heavy mineral residues from sedimentary rocks in the hope of obtaining evidence as to whence the detritus was derived. It is clear that the petrological characteristics of the land mass whose erosion provides the detritus must always be an important factor in predetermining the percentage composition of the residue as we now find it. Yet the sorting action of the transporting agents (which tend to separate the heavy from the less heavy minerals) and of chemical agents (which, both before and after deposition, destroy some minerals and introduce new ones) may often be suspected of having a great or even a dominating influence upon the final composition of the residue. It is proposed in this paper to investigate by simple mathematical methods the probable effect of these processes and to do so along lines which have been suggested by the study of actual heavy mineral assemblages.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 76 , Issue 7 , July 1939 , pp. 297 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1939

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Footnotes

1

These papers describe some statistical work chiefly on Jurassic and Triassic sediments in Yorkshire. The writer believes that the methods employed may be useful to other workers in attacking problems of sedimentary petrology, whilst the results lead to generalizations which may be worth testing elsewhere. Part II will deal with grain-size measurements and their graphical study, and Part III with the cartographic representation of numerical data.

References

REFERENCES

Ewing, C. J. C., 1931. “A Comparison of the Methods of Heavy Mineral Separation,” Geol. Mag., LXVIII, 136–140.Google Scholar
Rastall, R. H., 1932. “The Petrography of some Jurassic Sandstones in Eskdale,” Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., xxii, 93–9.Google Scholar
Smithson, F., 1930. “The Reliability of Frequency-Estimations of Heavy Mineral Suites,” Geol. Mag., LXVII, 134–6.Google Scholar
Smithson, F., 1931. “The Triassic Sandstones of Yorkshire and Durham,” Proc. Geol. Assoc., xlii, 125–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, F., 1934. “The Petrography of Jurassic Sediments in Yorkshire,” Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., xxii, 188–198.Google Scholar