Some observations from radiometric ‘8 bit’ data of sediment thin sections based on alternative petrographic image analysis method

This paper deals with the experiment of sediment microstructure analysis especially microfabric mapping by digital imaging. For that purpose the greyscale images (Red band from RGB combination) of the thin sections have been prepared from the selected 12 samples. The basis of this mapping is the reflectance capacity of different sediments which is influenced by the physical parameters like grain size and colour. The reflectances of different sediments are represented in digital format by different DN values from 0–255 within the radiometric ranges of ‘8 bit’ data. Density slicing has been chosen as the method of microstructure mapping in this research. This study shows that lower DN values normally present dark coloured coarser sand and clay while higher DN values present light coloured finer sediment samples. In the selected samples for this study the maximum DN value has been found from micaceous materials. Another remarkable thing observed from the microfabric mapping is that the presence of coarser sediments forms complex microfabric pattern than the finer sediments in the study area. Though this method have some demerits, still its simple technique can be very useful for accurate microstructure analysis.