The surface texture of sand-sized grains includes those aspects of shape discernible only with the aid of optical or electron microscopy. This surface relief has been studied in an effort to identify textures diagnostic of particular environments of deposition, on the assumption that the agent of transport produces characteristic surface features. The early optical work of Cailleux (1942) created the classical morphoscopic method whereby smoothed and polished grains (émoussés-luisants) of water-worn origin were distinguished from rounded, frosted grains (ronds-mats) of wind-worn origin. Subsequent use of the transmission and scanning electron microscopes, with their greater resolution, has permitted the identification of recurring surface textures, particularly on quartz grains, typical of littoral (beach) and other environments of deposition. An excellent review of early work, the techniques used and results obtained, is contained in Krinsley and Margolis (1971) and Krinsley and...
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References
Brown, J. E., 1973. Depositional histories of sand grains from surface textures, Nature 242, 396–398; 245, 31–32.
Cailleux, A., 1942. Les actions éoliennes périglaciares en Europe, Soc. Géol. France Mém. 46, 1–176.
Krinsley, D. H., and Doornkamp, J. C., 1973. Atlas of Quartz Sand Surface Textures. New York: Cambridge University Press, 91p.
Krinsley, D. H., and Margolis, S. V., 1971. Grain surface texture, in R. E. Carver, ed., Procedures in Sedimentary Petrology. New York: Wiley Inter-science, 151–180.
Nordstrom, C. E., and Margolis, S. V., 1972. Sedimentary history of central California shelf sands as revealed by scanning electron microscopy, Jour. Sed. Petrology 42, 527–536.
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© 1982 Hutchinson Ross Publishing Company
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Greenwood, B. (1982). Sand, surface texture . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_387
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_387
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