The grain size distribution is a fundamental property of sediment that effects sediment entrainment, transport, and deposition and directly impacts the petrophysical properties of sandstones. Traditionally grainsize is analysed qualitatively in the field, or quantitatively in the lab by sieving, or point counting on thin sections (2D analysis technique). These techniques may neglect particle shape and lead to skewed grain size distribution plots. Here, we use X-ray micro CT in order to obtain both grain size and grain shape measurements in 3D that allow us to fully understand the grain size distribution of a sediment.
The image above shows a reconstruction of a scan of sand from a sedimentary core. On the left particles are coloured by equivalent spherical diameter and on the right particles are coloured by the shape (according the Zingg shape analysis).
For more information about the analysis of sediment cores, contact James Houghton
Images shown here were created with Fiji and Drishti from Zeiss Xradia Versa data.
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