Petrographic structures and statistics of intergranular contacts

Abstract

The article draws attention to the current unsatisfactory definition of petrographic structures and textures. This is what leaves them descriptive and does not allow them to be fully taken into account in the characterisation of rocks and ores. The approach based on intergrain contact statistics is briefly outlined and a mathematical definition of petrographic structure is given. It is pointed out that calculation of intergrain contact statistics in thin sections in real time and with high accuracy is possible only by means of adapted optical analyzers.