S= SIZE, SORTING

indicate:

- length of transport

-selective sorting

-mode of transport

-flow velocity, competence

Grade Scales Grade scales define limits to a range of grain sizes for a given class (grade) of grain size. Sedimentologists use the Udden-Wentworth Grade Scale.

Sets most boundaries to vary by a factor of 2. They provide a basis for a terminology that describes grain size. e.g., medium sand falls between 0.25 and 0.5 mm.

Sedimentologists often express grain size in units call Phi Units (; the lower case Greek letter phi). phi units assign whole numbers to the boundaries between size classes. phi was originally defined as:

= log 2 d (mm)

To make phi dimensionless it was later defined as:

d ( mm) = log 2 dO
Where dO = 1 mm.

Detrital Sediments & Sedimentary Rocks

gravel & conglomerate

sand & sandstone

clay, silt & mudstone

Displaying Grain Size Data i) Histograms Readily shows the relative amount of sediment in each size class.

Each bar width equals the class interval (0.5 intervals in this case). Bars extend from the maximum size to the minimum size for each size class.

Note that when grain size is plotted as phi units grain size becomes smaller towards the right.

ii) Frequency Curves A smooth curve that joins the midpoints of each bar on the histogram.

iii) Cumulative Frequency Curves A smooth curve that represents the size distribution of the sample.

Sedimentologists commonly plot cumulative frequency curves on a probability scale for the cumulative frequency. On such plots normal, bell shaped distributions plot as a straight line.

Describing Grain Size Distributions. Folk and Ward (1957) introduced the Graphic Method to estimate the various statistical parameters describing a grain size distribution using only percentiles taken from cumulative frequency curves. Median Mean Standard deviation Skewness
Md = 50

M=

16 + 50 + 84
3

84 16
4

95 5
6.6

84 + 16 250 95 + 5 250 Sk = + 2(84 16 ) 2(95 5 )

95 5 K= 2.44(75 25 )

Kurtosis

Standard Deviation (; lower case Greek letter sigma) Also referred to as the sorting coefficient or dispersion coefficient of a sediment. The units of sorting are phi units. It is a measure of how much variation in grain size is present within a sample. 68% of the total weight of sediment in a sample falls within +/- 1 standard deviation of the mean.

Sedimentologists use a specific terminology to describe the sorting of a sediment: Very well sorted Well sorted Moderately well sorted Moderately sorted Poorly sorted Very poorly sorted Extremely poorly sorted 0 < < 0.35 0.35 < < 0.50 0.5 < < 0.71 0.71 < < 1.00 1.00 < < 2.00 2.00 < < 4.00 > 4.00

Sorting - visual estimate

Skewness (Sk) A measure of the symmetry of the distribution. Values range from 1.0 to +1.0.

Sk = 0 Perfectly symmetrical. Md = M

Sk > 0 The distribution has more fine particles than a symmetrical distribution would have. The distribution is said to be fine tailed. M is finer than Md

Sk < 0 The distribution has more coarse particles than a symmetrical distribution would have. The distribution is said to be coarse tailed. M is coarser than Md

Terminology:

Sk > 0.3 strongly fine skewed 0.1 < Sk < 0.3 fine skewed -0.1 < Sk < 0.1 near symmetrical -0.3 < Sk < -0.1 coarse skewed Sk < -0.3 strongly coarse skewed

Kurtosis (K) A measure of the peakedness of the distribution (related to sorting).

K > 1 sharp peaked (Leptokurtic) K = 1 normal (Mesokurtic) K < 1 flat peaked (Platykurtic)

Interpretation

Sediment transport & sorting

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation

Interpretation