J. Evans et al., QUANTIFICATION OF QUARTZ CEMENTS USING COMBINED SEM, CL, AND IMAGE-ANALYSIS, Journal of sedimentary research. Section A, Sedimentary petrology and processes, 64(2), 1994, pp. 334-338
Quartz cement content is often difficult to quantify using conventiona
l petrography. Developments in equipment and technique reported here s
how how excellent, high-contrast images of quartz cements can be produ
ced using combined scanning electron microscopy and cathodoluminescenc
e (SEM/CL). In most cases quartz cement can be differentiated readily
from detrital quartz. Image analysis allows the percentage of authigen
ic quartz to be quantified. Advantages of this method are: (1) it can
be readily automated; (2) backscatter electron (BSE) and CL images can
be compared directly, and (3) images can be improved through acquirin
g and integrating multiple images. Comparison of results from conventi
onal optical petrography with those from SEM/CL suggests that the perc
entages of quartz cement determined by conventional methods are overes
timated where quartz cement is present in high proportions and are und
erestimated where quartz cement is less abundant. By adopting a statis
tically rigorous approach to image collection, the abundance of quartz
cement can be determined by SEM/CL with a known accuracy.