Institute of Geology and Dynamics of the Lithosphere at the
University of Göttingen
International Conference on
Textures and Physical Properties of Rocks
October 13 (Wed) to 16 (Sat), 1999 in
Göttingen, Germany
WORKSHOP 7:
Thomas Weiss (Göttingen) and Bernd Leiss (Göttingen):
Physical anisotropies and textures of carbonates
The investigation of textures and anisotropic physical properties of carbonate rocks
are of particular interest because (a) they form large-scale deposits of predominantly
monomineralic composition, (b) they play an important role as a lubbricant during nappe
emplacement, (c) they can be easily deformed in experiments, (d) the strength of a
texture can be proved indirectly since the physical properties of the calcite single
crystal are highly anisotropic, (e) they show a large variety of fabrics and
(d) crystallographic preferred orientations are frequently observed. Furthermore,
carbonate rocks are also of interest from the economical and cultural point of view.
They have been extensively used as building stones for more than 2000 years, although
carbonate rocks are well-known for their mechanical softness and sensitivity to weathering.
One important parameter controlling the weathering is the fabric (grain size, grain shape,
grain size distribution, microcracks, porosity, bulk texture, grain to grain relationship
etc.). Other parameters are the climatic conditions which can reinforce the weathering
even at moderate changes. Up to now, there exists only sparse knowledge about the interaction
of fabric parameters which play the most important role for the proneness to weathering of
different carbonate rocks in different climatic conditions.
This workshop will focus on the interaction between microstructural properties and
textures and their consequences for petrophysical properties. One of the main aims is to
investigate the origin of both, microstructural and textural characteristics. Ideas for
that can be obtained from the analyses of natural textures, from numerical texture
modeling and from carbonate-specific deformation experiments. Another aim is to calculate
the physical properties from naturally observed or from experimentally developed textures
and to compare them with the physical properties derived from laboratory experiments.
Specific topics are:
- Natural carbonate fabrics and textures
- Deformation experiments and textures of carbonates
- Numerical simulation of carbonate textures
- Texture forming and modifying mechanisms of carbonates
- Characterisation of texture types of carbonates
- Texture versus crack formation / propagation
- Effect of crack-porosity on intrinsic anisotropy
- Experimental determination of physical properties like elasticity,
thermal dilatation, thermal conductivity, etc.
- Calculation of physical properties from textures
Oral contributions, posters and practical demonstrations concerning the characterisation and the analysis of the petrophysical properties, the microstructure and the texture of naturally, experimentally and numerically developed carbonate rocks are invited.
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Last updated: Mar 10, 1999