A NEW STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF MINERALS IN ROCKS

We propose a new method to describe quantitatively rock textures with a special emphasis on the spatial distributions of minerals. The method employs a statistical approach and examines probabilities for particular mineral pairs to occur for variable interpoint distances. The probability is measured by counting the number of point-pairs on digitized images of rock textures that are obtained with a computer-aided digital image processor. Several problems in obtaining textural images and processing the data that were encountered in the actual procedures are reviewed. The method is applied to two rock samples, granite and contact metamorphic hornfels. The method is useful in examining the extent of homogeneity and randomness of mineral distributions and spatial correlations among minerals of different kinds.