A Comparison of Sieve Analysis Techniques in the St. Peter Sandstone
Department
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Major
Geology and Geophysics
Research Advisor
Laudon, Robert C.
Advisor's Department
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Funding Source
Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience
Abstract
Grain size analyses have been applied to soils, sediments and sedimentary rocks for over 100 years. Many types of analyses have been used and several are well established in soil science and sedimentary petrology. A new method involving cubic splines has been developed that has no distribution bias, such as Gauss normal, and not only measures mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis accurately, but also identifies embedded modes that are not commonly identified by other methods. This analysis compares the cubic spline procedure against the more traditional Method of Moments analysis on one of the most famous and controversial formations in North America, the Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone. The new procedure appears to compare favorably to the Method of Moments analysis, except that it clearly identifies hidden modes as identified by the second derivative of the clamped cubic spline.
Biography
Bryce is a senior undergraduate in Geology & Geophysics, in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering. His research interests include salt tectonics, thin-skinned deformation processes, structural geology, depositional systems, and geophysics. He is also an active member of the C.L. Dake Geological Society, Sigma Gamma Epsilon, and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Research Category
Natural Sciences
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Award
Natural Sciences poster session, Third place
Presentation Date
12 Apr 2006, 1:00 pm
A Comparison of Sieve Analysis Techniques in the St. Peter Sandstone
Grain size analyses have been applied to soils, sediments and sedimentary rocks for over 100 years. Many types of analyses have been used and several are well established in soil science and sedimentary petrology. A new method involving cubic splines has been developed that has no distribution bias, such as Gauss normal, and not only measures mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis accurately, but also identifies embedded modes that are not commonly identified by other methods. This analysis compares the cubic spline procedure against the more traditional Method of Moments analysis on one of the most famous and controversial formations in North America, the Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone. The new procedure appears to compare favorably to the Method of Moments analysis, except that it clearly identifies hidden modes as identified by the second derivative of the clamped cubic spline.
