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625-632
FIGS. 1-3, SEPTEMBER, 1964
R. H. DOTT, JR.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
ABSTRACT
Huckenholz (1963) showed that the original arkose and graywacke overlap completely in both texture and
composition; perhaps suppression of one or both terms is indicated. Graywacke has the longer, if not more signif-
icant (albeit confused), history. For 100 years in Germany and 50 in Britain, before development by Sorby of
thin section petrography, graywacke was used as a purely hand specimen term based chiefly upon texture. It
seems pointless to change this emphasis for an important, large, texturally-similar yet compositlonally-varied
rock clan.
Modal analysis and interpretation of immature sandstones presents many problems, especially that of matrix
which is increasingly attacked as a classificatory parameter, chiefly of maturity. But it matters not how or when
conspicuous matrix of graywackes formed for it to be useful for descriptive "coarse" separation of pure (arenite)
and impure (wacke) sandstones; genesis of fine material must be interpreted in any sand, recent or ancient. Finer
subdivision can be made on a compositional basis following flexible schemes such as Gilbert's. Sedimentary struc-
tures, tectonics, provenance, depositlonal process and environment should be avoided in petrographic classifica-
tion. If textural and compositional maturity be accepted as the prime guides in classification, then purely quanti-
tative placing of a rock within each maturity spectrum could replace all troublesome varietal names.
ard for correct application of this venerable, "This rock, including in a basic [matrix] of quartzy
battle-scarred rock name. Several previous clay slate, variously shaped masses of clay slate, grey-
papers as well as Huckenholz's have been written wacke slate, flinty slate, and sometimes also masses
to provide detailed petrographic and chemical and grains of felspar, and scales of mica. It very rarely
analyses so that other sandstones could be more contains petrifactions [fossils]."
closely compared with the original. This ap-
proach apes the zoological "archetype" and This passage apparently is nearly identical with
stratigraphic reference-standard procedures his 1808 description (see Cummins, 1962). The
which have proven over the years to be toler- term was soon used throughout Britain by many,
ably successful in their respective contexts. if not most, geologists there, although certainly
A rigid "type" approach to defining rocks is not with whole-hearted unanimity even then (see
today considered archaic by many if not most quotation at the beginning of this paper). As
petrologists; igneous petrologists have succeeded mapping and stratigraphic investigations pro-
enviably in emancipating themselves almost ceeded rapidly in Britain, the name greywacke
completely. But even more significant is that, as became for a time more or less synonymous with
commonly practiced for graywacke, it seems to Transition Rocks (now Lower Paleozoic) which
me the "type" doctrine has acquired a serious include many dark, "clay-rich" sandstone types.
fallacy, namely the assumption that we should Thus the term acquired a quasi time-strati-
place primary emphasis upon microscopic petro- graphic connotation much as Old Red Sand-
graphic and chemical analyses (i.e., composition) stone, Chalk and certain other lithologic terms
of the Harz graywackes. Huckenholz indicates have done. This usage of greywacke has long-
that grauewacke was first used by miners to since ceased, and in fact was practiced for only
refer to barren country rock at least as early as a few decades before the Cambrian and Silurian
the mid-eighteenth century. A point which ap- were named by Sedgewick and Murchison.
parently has not been emphasized in the long For the half century after 1800 when study of
furor over graywacke, is that this transpired 100 strata first went forth at a rapid rate, gray-
years before invention of the petrographic micro- wacke had to be a field (and at best hand lens)
scope and use of thin sections. Moreover, Hucken- term until Sorby perfected thin section tech-
holz cites an early megascopic or hand lens de- niques in the 1850's. Although some chaos had
scription published in 1789 (Lasius) which char- already appeared, if one can find any common
acterized the grauewacke as quartz "breccia" denominator in early megascopic usage, it was
with mica flakes and fragments of chert or the emphasis of dark color and abundant
sandstone in a clay cement. The name itself, of matrix; angularity and overall heterogeneity,
course, also implies a gray or dark color. How-' though implied, seem to have been secondary.
ever, the same reference is quoted by Howell Subsequently, Europeans, particularly in Britain
(1957, p. 130) as characterizing graywacke as have more consistently emphasized texture as
"sandstone made up of fragmental granite de- the prime quality of graywacke, though they
bris," the usual American definition of arkose. have not been free of dissension (Boswell, 1960).
This ambiguity supports Huckenholz'sclaim It is on our side of the Atlantic that composi-
that the two rocks overlap, but also further be- tional emphasis has flowered most luxuriantly.
clouds the true original meaning of graywacke. The most unfortunate compositional restriction
One must keep in mind, however, that these of all was that of Wentworth and Twenhofel who
compositional remarks were of necessity hand defined "greywacke as the ferromagnesian equiv-
lens observations only, and presumably were alent of an arkose" (Twenhofel, 1932, p. 231).
just amplifications of Lasius's other, primarily This reflects a natural desire to have specific rock
textural remarks. names or clans contain built-in source-rock con-
Use of graywacke is found in English litera- notations, but how ironical this is in light of
ture at least as early as 1808, and this is, in Huckenholz's data showing almost complete
many ways, more relevant for North American overlap of the "type" arkose and graywacke! It
geologists. Robert Jameson, the arch Wernrian is a noble, but impractical goal. Only a rare
of Edinburgh, used the name extensively, and it sand, indeed, represents but one source mate-
is indeed very probable that he himself first rial, and it is wishful thinking to suppose that a
introduced it to the English-speaking geologic useful petrographic classification can be based
fraternity when he returned to Scotland from primarily upon provenance composition. For ex-
his great pilgrimage to the Freiburg papacy. ample, some of the "type" arkoses even contain
Not having available a copy of his 1808 Geognosy, appreciable sedimentary and metamorphic rock
I quote Jameson's description of "greywacke" fragments (Huckenholz, 1963).
from his notes to a translation of Cuvier's Essay By popular criteria either of original or
on the Theory of the Earth (1818, p. 220): majority usage of graywacke over the years, at
CLA S S I F Y I N G I M M A T U R E S A N D S T O N E S 627
51LiCI~0t
ff sf
T
Ij
FIG. 3.--Modified portrayal of Gilbert's classification of silicate sandstones incorporating
Folk's dual maturity concepts.
1960; Dott, 1963, p. 123-124). These are sub- thin section. However, following Gilbert, this
jective and involve separate and distinct inter- only serves to establish varietal types of impure
pretations to be made from the rocks described. sandstones (wackes), which first and foremost
Nor should sedimentary structures be entwined comprise a texturally immature group. Folk
in rock classification. Folk's (1951) dual tex- (1951; 1961) has defined textural maturity in the
tural and compositional maturity concept seems three-fold terms of percent "clay" (matrix),
to provide the most lucid guiding basis for clas- sorting, and rounding. He also recognized dif-
sification. By evaluating texture and composition fering rates of change of these properties (table
separately, varietal names could be abandoned 1); the spectrum of ideal textural evolution is
completely. The act of classifying could ulti- essentially an exponential one with much more
mately become simply a process of placing a rapid changes at the immature end. Matrix and
sediment quantitatively within the two con- rounding can be measured fairly readily in thin
tinuous maturity spectra. Textural maturity can section, but rigorous size analysis for calculating
be quantified as in table 1, and compositional sorting (standard deviation) is very tedious and
stability can be expressed as an index such as can not be justified in many studies.
the ratio of quartz to all other grains (Walton, It has become common practice to employ per-
1955). Such procedures would save much centage of fine matrix, determinable by point
printers' ink and page charges and tend to counting all grains smaller than some arbitrary
eliminate long-winded discussions of sticky no- diameter (generally 20 or 30 microns), as an
menclatural problems. approximate estimate of sorting and for differen-
tiating the impure and pure sandstones by some
The Matrix Problem arbitrarily chosen volume percent (generally 10 or
Overall compositional stability is easily estab- 15 percent). This would seem at first blush a
lished by conventional grain point counting in valid procedure, but it is questioned by Hucken-
630 R. H. D O T T , J R .
holz (1963) and others. Curray (1960) has fluidity index has also been criticized because of
emphasized that fine mud has been introduced the suspect origin of that matrix. This may be
extensively into originally "clean" sands by defensible in a general way, however, because in
burrowing animals; Cummins (1962) believes pebbly mudstones with dispersed fabrics, the
that most matrix results from diagenetic break- largest conglomeratic clasts tend to occur con-
down of unstable sand grains. Cummins main- sistently in the most dispersed examples, i.e.,
tains that there is a direct correlation between those which possessed greatest fine matrix and
percent matrix and age of graywackes. He con- least fluidity.
tends that modern and most Tertiary sands, The "matrix problem" is partly an operational
presumed otherwise similar in origin to ancient matter, and if I would defend the honor of matrix
graywackes, lack matrix, and that matrix de- against the infidels' attack, it is necessary to
rives from diagenetic alteration of labile grains. discuss several of the rarely-cited practical
Klein (1963) also attributes some matrix to problems that arise in studying immature sand-
secondary infiltration, however this would be stones. The average grain size of rocks being
limited to sands with moderately large original point-counted should always be indicated, for
pores Huckenholz argues that, to be used for composition as well as texture is strongly affected
classification, matrix must show a sharp size- by size alone. Sample size, or number of points,
frequency separation from the sand grains (i.e., should also be given, and in rounding studies,
bimodality). This is the first time that I have the scale used as well as the method of deter-
encountered this special restriction which, even mination should be indicated as there is varia-
if of some fundamental genetic significance, tion among published rounding classifications.
seems wholly impractical. Medium to coarse sandstones are optimum for
Diagnefic origin of some matrix material is optical identification purposes, and tend to be
undeniable. Williams and others (1954) and the most sensitive compositional stability indi-
Pettijohn (1957) discuss this origin, and recently cators, but magnification is obviously a factor,
Allen (1963) has shown convincing evidence of too. Therefore, it would be helpful if authors
it. The writer has encountered many vague, ill- would state the magnification used during count-
defined grain boundaries clearly indicative of ing as this may strongly bias results, particularly
dmgnetic alteration in volcanic-rich Tertiary the discrimination of matrix. Magnification of
sandstones from Oregon, but many associated 75-100 seems to be ideal for counting most
sandstones with equal volumes of matrix also medium and coarse sandstones
have exceptionally fresh grains (fig. 2) ; the latter Many authors fail to indicate the upper size
matrix must have been detrital. Much "dia- limit chosen for matrix. Williams and others
genetic" matrix almost certainly has resulted (1954) arbitrarily suggested 20 microns (0.02 mm
from alteration not of sand-sized grains, but of or 5.7 q~) but Folk (1961) chose 30 microns (0.03
an original detrital matrix; although some change mm or 5 ¢) for his "clay" limit. It would appear
of composition and form has taken place, there that 30 microns is preferable for three reasons.
need not have been any change of size distribu- First it falls almost exactly at an even phi
tion. Whether detfital or secondary, it is self- division. Second, as Chayes (1956) has shown,
evident that matrix in ancient, compacted sand- the standard thin section thickness of 30 microns
stones is not exactly comparable in its volu- imposes severe bias on any estimates made from
metric relationships with that of uncompacted fine grains, particularly if opaque. Thirdly, it is
sands. Use by Pettijohn (1957) of matrix as a suspected that a genetically significant clastic
TAnLE 1,--Folk's (1961) ideal textural maturity spectrum modified for greater discrlmatlon at the immature end
Immature
Very Immature Moderately Submature Mature Supermature
(Wackes) Immature
>10% >5%<
Matrix Matrix
(<0.03 ram)
Sorting > 0.5 < Sort ing
0.35 (Wadell scale)
m
Rounding> <
3.0 (Folk scale)
I
CLA S S I F Y I N G I M M A T URE S A N D S T O N E S 631
size break may occur in the silt range. Spencer mary detrltal matrix is related strictly to texture
(1963) suggests 30 microns as the best boundary and diagenetic matrix more to composition.
for separating two fundamentally different size Careful microscopic and X-ray analysis may
populations, sand and matrix. He contends that provide bases for judging relative contributions
"silt as a genetic class does not exist" (p. 189), of each. But if both are present in quantity,
and that size sorting is a matter of degree of then matrix clearly would be an index of both
truncation or mixing of two or three distinct maturities, which is further evidence that tex-
size populations. Therefore most clastic sedi- ture and composition are not, after all com-
ments consist of grains and matrix. If real, such pletely independent. This need not be totally
a natural tendency for bimodality would unnerving, however, for texture first must be ob-
strengthen Huckenholz's procedure for using jectively considered a quality that a rock or
matrix in classification, but as Spencer shows, sediment possesses at the time it was collected
ideal bimodal separation is not always clear. and studied. Muddy, burrowed sands and much-
Choice of the amount of matrix necessary to altered ones are today texturally immature,
divide pure from impure sandstones is even i.e., they encompass a wide range of sizes, re-
more elusive, but the writer's experience has been gardless of how they got that way! This con-
that relatively few sandstones have less than 10 clusion generally would be reached from sieve
percent matrix, while many have 10 to 15 per- or settling tube analysis of sorting just as from
cent and more. But if standardization remains point counting of matrix. Size distribution sta-
impossible, as it probably shall, at least workers tistics must be interpreted as to origin of the
should state the percentage and size limits as fines just as much as thin section data. Yet,
well as magnification used in their studies. This curiously, when modern sands are analyzed and
is of paramount importance because percent interpreted texturally, the "matrix question"
matrix alone may completely change the rock never seems to arise, reflecting inherent prob-
name, and certain names such as arkose have lems and view points generated by the different
developed very specific genetic implications. I methods of study of ancient and recent sands.
have found in working with students that there Yet, does not the question still exist? Matrix
is a wider range of matrix determination than of will appear in the clay-silt fraction of any size
any other petrographic parameter. However, in distribution regardless of origin.
some cases of exploratory replication by different W h a t to measure, then? Measurement of
operators, acceptable reproducibility has been matrix in thin section is not a completely satis-
obtained. There is a high degree of judgment and factory substitute for sorting, for standard
uncertainty in point counting immature sand- deviation is affected by both ends of the size
stones, and because of these inherent problems distribution, while matrix percentage only con-
and biases, the comparability of many published siders the fine end. In other words, winnowing
modal analyses of graywaekes is in doubt. Many of fines is not entirely synonymous with sorting
may not even be reproducible. Much of this as we normally think of it. Apparently there is
could be alleviated, however, with more complete no short-cut to complete analysis of textural
specification of analytical procedures and limits maturity. Therefore, ideally it is desirable to
used. know both matrix percent and sorting as well as
rounding, but this is often impractical. Perhaps
The Matrix Question matrix coupled with some other, readily obtain-
Obviously the origin of matrix is complex, but able measure such as maximum size to give a
the " m a t r i x question" should not be so much total size range might provide a reasonable
whether it can be used in classification, but how compromise approximation of sorting for rapid
it is to be interpreted genetically. History shows analysis of large numbers of thin sections; com-
that presence or absence of matrix is a con- parative sorting charts provide another prac-
spicuous and measurable property. As such it tical compromise (Folk, 1961). 4 Rapid visual
is a perfectly valid descriptive and classifica- estimate of size distribution is claimed to have
tory criterion. Even Cummins (1962), the most high reproducibility after some practice (Swann
extreme advocate of a secondary origin of
matrix, does not for a moment seem to question 4 The Zeiss TGZ3 Electric Particle Size Analyzer
its overriding significance in characterizing may offer a solution for rapid size analysis from photo-
micrographs, though its cost and certain scale and
graywackes. If a choice is possible, point count- conversion limitations detract somewhat from its ap-
ing can be avoided on samples in which grain peal. Figure 2 was so analyzed, in a slightly larger
alteration or burrowing have been extreme; field, yielding Md~4.8 sm 1.03, and 35% finer than
fortunately, these effects generally are readily 0.03 ram. The full thin section, however contains
scattered pebbles, therefore this is not fully repre-
detectable. Even use of matrix as one index of sentative. Point counting showed 27% matrix, and in-
maturity is perfectly defensible, although pri- dicates, for the entire samvle, s > 1.50.
632 R. H. DOTT, JR.
and others, 1959, Emrich and Wobber, 1963). abolish it offer no satisfactory substitute name
But matrix determination alone still is defensible for an immense family of very important rocks.
as better than no measurement for immature History shows that for 100 years prior to the
sandstones. In fact, as Folk originally suggested development of thin section petrography, usage
and as Spencer implies in the suggested over- of graywacke emphasized (if anything) pri-
lapping or truncation of sand and matrix popu- marily its peculiar textural properties, chiefly
lations, winnowing of detrital matrix is the first its matrix and dark color. And if classification is
and most sensitive change in ideal textural evolu- to be descriptive, it matters not one whit how
tion, thus is the most important single property or when the texturally-conspicuous matrix of
to measure in texturally immature sands. graywackes originated for it to be used in clas-
sificatory distinction of two major "coarse"
CONCLUSION separations of sandstones by gross texture, i.e.
pure sandstones or arenites, and impure or
From the premise that sandstone classifica- wackes. Further subdivision of either group
tion must be basically descriptive to be useful should be made secondarily according to composi-
and durable, textural maturity and compositional tional differences following schemes like that of
stability provide the clearest guides. Hucken- Gilbert. Sedimentary structures as well as the
holz (1962) seems to have proven the great genetic implications of tectonics, provenance
variability and overlap of two classic immature depositional process and environment, (and the
sandstone types which suggests immediately circular reasoning involved) should be avoided
that one or both terms be abandoned, though rigidly in establishing petrographic varieties.
he did not draw this seemingly mandatory con- Clearly mere mortals, not the rocks, have become
clusion. Arkose has little descriptive value and confused. If we ask the rocks only straightfor-
could be replaced by feldspa~hic sandstone. Gray- ward questions, they shall reply in kind, and
wacke has a longer and more significant history. classification should serve to help us better
As Pettijohn (1957) remarks, those who would to phrase those questions.
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