Sand and silt grains: Predetermination of their formation and properties by microfractures in quartz

Abstract

Abstract Examination of quartz from plutonic source rocks, sediments and soils, using both optical and scanning electron microscopes, reveals that the mineral is, almost always, cut by sets of partially healed, subplanar, subparallel microfractures dividing it into sheets typically one to a few micrometres thick. The structure, which originates in source rocks, is not due to crystal cleavage although it does show weak crystallo‐graphic influence in its directions. One to several sets of microfractures, intersecting at varying angles, can be present in any one quartz crystal. The microfractures vary in quality like cleavages; separation takes place readily along some, less so along others. In superficial environments, the ease with which microfractures can be reopened largely controls the durability of quartz and the degree to which comminution can proceed. However, this type of breakage must cease when grains are one sheet thick (about 2–20 Mm in diameter). Hence quartz suddenly changes from being the dominant mineral in silt fractions to a normally minor constituent of clay fractions. The shape of grains depends largely on the number of (and angles between) microfrac‐ture sets present in the parent quartz. Most quartz grain surfaces represent fractures whose details characterize the pre‐emergent history of the quartz rather than sedimentary environments.