THIN-SECTION SIZE ANALYSIS: A FURTHER NOTE

Criticisms by VAN DER PLAS (1962) of thin-section point counting as a method of size analysis appear to be based on confusion between number percent and volume percent. Points are samples of volume, and point counts yield volume percents. This is as much true of size classes as of other types of constituents, though distortions are caused in the distribution by the sectioning effect. The “ribbon” method advocated by Van der Plas counts individuals rather than points and hence yields number percents. The two types of statistic are fundamentally different.