Computer-based image-analyses of laminated shales, carboniferous of the Midcontinent and surrounding areas

Conference · Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6139010

Archer, A W ^[1]

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1. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Geology

Computerized image-analyses of petrographic data can greatly facilitate the quantification of detailed descriptions and analyses of fine-scale fabric, or petrofabric. In thinly laminated rocks, manual measurement of successive lamina thicknesses is very time consuming, especially when applied to thick, cored sequences. In particular, images of core materials can be digitized and the resulting image then processed as a large matrix. Using such techniques, it is relatively easy to automate continuous measurements of lamina thickness and lateral continuity. This type of analyses has been applied to a variety of Carboniferous strata, particularly those siliciclastics that occur within the outside shale' portions of Kansas cyclothems. Of the various sedimentological processes capable of producing such non-random thickness variations, a model invoking tidal processes appears to be particularly robust. Tidal sedimentation could not only have resulted in the deposition of individual lamina, but in addition tidal-height variations during various phases of the lunar orbit can serve to explain the systematic variations. Comparison of these Carboniferous shales with similar laminations formed in modern high tidal-range environments indicates many similarities. These modern analogs include the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and Bay of Mont-Staint-Michel in France. Lamina-thickness variations, in specific cases, can be correlated with known tidal periodicities. In addition, in some samples, details of the tidal regime can be interpolated, such as the nature of the tidal system (i.e., diurnal or semidiurnal) and some indicators of tidal range can be ascertained based upon modern analogs.

• OSTI ID: 6139010
• Report Number(s): CONF-9303212-; CODEN: GAAPBC
• Journal Information: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:1; Conference: 27. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) South-Central Section meeting, Fort Worth, TX (United States), 15-16 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
PETROGRAPHY
STRATIFICATION
KANSAS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEPOSITION
GEOLOGIC MODELS
IMAGE PROCESSING
LAYERS
SHALES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGY
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PROCESSING
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SIMULATION
USA
580000* - Geosciences