Cathodoluminescence microscopy as a tool for provenance studies of sandstones ( luminescence petrography).

Abstract

The origin of monocrystalline quartz, the dominant detrital component of most sandstones, can still not be determined quantitatively with the petrographic microscope and published classifications. With the aid of a technically improved cathodoluminescence microscope that enables the study of low luminescent minerals, six classes of monocrystalline former high-quartz are distinguished and used as a guide to provenance. Luminescence petrography also allows discrimination between various types of feldspars and rock fragments and to estimate quantitatively their abundance. Furthermore, cathodoluminescence enables detrital grains to be distinguished from syntaxial overgrowths in well cemented sandstones so that the original grain size and roundness parameters can be determined. -from Authors