SEDIMENTARY FABRIC

SUBMITTED BY--------

SHIBA SHANKAR
ACHARYA
ROLL NO-08GG4012

INTRODUCTION
Fabric is the mutual arrangement and orientation

of the fabric elements .

Fabric elements of a sedimentary rock may be a
single crystal or sand grain, a shell or any other
component.
The particles are originally deposited in a
gravitationally stable framework.
The above assumption has two
complications.
1.Not true for fine particles.
2.liquefaction.

TYPES OF FABRIC
BASED ON ORIENTATION OF FABRIC ELEMENTS
1.ISOTROPIC=Orientation of fabric elements is random.

If the particles are highly

spherical no preferred
fabric will be discernable.

Particles are nonspherical but have no

preferred fabric.

ANISOTROPIC=when a preferred orientation is present.

A-axes transverse to

flow with b-axes

imbricate

a(t)b(i) .
A-axes parallel to flow
with a-axes imbricate.
a(p)a(i)

3.CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC=fabric shown by alignment of the crystallographic direction.

(e.g. c-axes of quartz grains.)

C axes
Of quartz grains

BASED ON GENESIS OF FABRIC

DEFORMATION=Produced by external stress on the rock
and results from a rotation or movement of the
constituent elements under stress or the growth of the
new elements in common orientation in the stress field.
APPOSITION =Formed at the time of deposition of the

material. This fabric records a response of the linear

elements to a force field, such as earths gravitational
or magnetic fields.
GROWTH FABRIC=Orientations resulting from crystal

growth and often related to a free surface.

The growth of crystals normal to such surfaces as in
geodes, veins, & the like, are primary fabric of this
type.

MEASUREMENT OF FABRIC
The orientation of a fabric element, may be described in terms of two
angles.
STRIKE/AZIMUTH=Angle between some axis of the pebble and median.
INCLINATION=Angle between axis in question and the horizontal.
A diagram that shows both the azimuth and the inclination of
the long axis of a fabric element is known as petrofabric diagram.

Measure the strike and dip

of the a-b plane.

POROSITY
FABRIC

PERMEABILITY

POROSITY
The porosity of rock is its property of

containing open spaces and can be

expressed as the ratio of the total volume
of its pore spaces to its total bulk rock
volume.
Computer microtomograhy image showing the porosity of a
sandstone

 Absolute porosity

=bulk volume-solid volume x 100

bulk volume
Effective porosity
=interconnected pore volume x 100
bulk volume
on the basis of origin, POROSITY is of two types
Primary porosity=develops during deposition of

sediment. It includes both inter and intra particle

porosity.
Secondary porosity=develops during diagenesis by
dissolution & dolomitization & through tectonic
movements producing fracture in the rock.

Conditions affecting porosity in a

sedimentary deposit
1. Theshape and arrangementof its constituent particles
2. Thedegree of assortmentof its particles
3. Thecementation and compactingto which a rock is
subjected
4. Theremoval of mineral matterthrough solution
5. Thefracturingof the rock, resulting in joints.
source=
after lee(1919) Porosity (percent)
Size
of material
1.Coarse sand

39 to 41

2.Medium sand

41 to 48

3.Fine sandy loam

50 to 54

Fine sand

44 to 49

a. Packing density: the arrangement of the particles in the

deposit.

b.

grain size:On its own, grain size has no influence

on porosity

d = sphere diameter; n = number of grains along a side .

c.Sorting :The better sorted the sediment the greater the porosity

This figure shows the relationship between

sorting and porosity for clay-free sands.

Overall, with increasing burial

depth the porosity of sediment
decreases.

porosity seems to be a
function of depth of burial,
according to the expression
P=p[e x e x e..y times]
Where p=average porosity of
surface clays.
y=a x d
a=constant

Importance of porosity
Especially it allows us to make estimations of the

amount of fluid that can be contained in a rock

(water, oil, spilled contaminants, etc.).
The total volume of oil is the total
volume of pore space (VP) in the oilbearing unit.

Effective porosity is a
measure of permeability of a
rock.

SECONDARY POROSITY can be recognized by

Partially dissolved grains.
Undissolved clay rims around finer grains
Oversized pores i.e. large pores of the sizes &
shape of grains.
Methods of determining porosity
A common one is tomeasure the quantity of
water required to saturate a known volume
of the dry material.
Another is to compare the specific gravity of a
dry sample with that of a saturated sample
of the same material.

PERMEABILITY
Permeability is the property of a rock which allows the

passage of fluids without impairment of its structure or

displacement of its parts.
A rock is said to be permeable if it permits an appreciable
quantity of fluids to pass through it in a given time .
If the rate of passage is negligible the rock is said to be
impermeable.
More precisely, permeability (k) is an empirically-derived
parameter in DArcys Law, a Law that predicts the
1 darcy is the
discharge of fluid through a granular material.

permeability that allows

a fluid with 1 centipoise
viscosity to flow at a rate
of 1 cm/s under a
pressure gradient of 1
atm/cm.

 k is proportional to all sediment properties that

influence the flow of fluid through any granular

material.
Two major factors controls the permeability

of diameter
a rock. of the pathways through which the
1. The
fluid
moves. of the path ways . (tortuosity)
2.
Complexity
Along the walls of the pathway the velocity is zero (a no
slip boundary) and increases away from the boundaries,
reaching a maximum towards the middle to the
pathway.
Along the walls of the
pathway the velocity is zero (a
no slip boundary) and increases
away from the boundaries,
reaching a maximum towards
the middle to the pathway.

 Tortuosity is a measure of how much a pathway

deviates from a straight line.

The greater the tortuosity the

lower the permeability because
viscous resistance is
cumulative along the length of
the pathway.
The path that fluid takes
through a granular
material is governed by
how individual pore
spaces are connected.
EFFECTIVE POROSITY

Path of fluid in a
rock

1.PACKING DENSITY
Smaller pathways reduce porosity and the size of

the pathways so the more tightly packed the

sediment the lower the permeability.

2.POROSITY

p
o
r
o
s
i
t
y

Decreasing permeability

The larger and more

abundant the pore
spaces the greater the
permeability.
permeability

3.GRAIN SIZE
Unlike porosity, permeability increases with grain size.
A ten-fold increase in
grain size yields a
hundred-fold increase
in permeability.
4.SORTING

The better sorted a

sediment is the greater its
permeability.

5.DEPTH OF BURIAL
Like porosity, permeability is changed following burial of a
sediment.

In this
example
permeability
is reduced by
two orders of
magnitude
with 3 km of
burial.

D
E
P
T
H
O
F
B
U
R
I
A
L

PERMEABILITY

Permeability is not necessarily isotropic

Permeability changes its value with direction.

This is illustrated in the following figures.
graded
bedding

fracture
s

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