Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscopy and Image Analysis of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Backscattered scanning electron microscopy (BSE) reveals the minerals, textures, and fabrics of sediments and rocks in much greater detail than is possible with conventional optical microscopy. Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscopy provides a concise summary of the BSE technique. This comprehensive guide uses abundant images to illustrate the type of information BSE yields and the application of the technique to the study of sediments and sedimentary rocks. The authors review the use of this petrographic technique on all the major sedimentary rock types, including sediment grains, sandstones, shales, carbonate rocks, rock varnish, and glauconite. They also describe image analysis techniques that allow quantification of backscattered scanning electron microscope images. Heavily illustrated and lucidly written, this book will provide researchers and graduate students with the most current research on this important geological tool.

Professor Ken Pye is an internationally renowned geomorphologist and sedimentologist who is the author or co-author of numerous books and journal articles. In addition to his current role as Director of Kenneth Pye Associates Ltd he has held academic appointments at the universities of Cambridge, Reading and Royal Holloway, London. Currently he is also a Visiting Professor at the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton. His books include Aeolian Dust and Dust Deposits (1987), Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes (2009), Saltmarshes (Cambridge University Press, 1992) and Sediment Transport and Depositional Processes (1994).