ALBERT

Notes: This paper introduces two special issues of the Review devoted to income distribution theory and its empirical implementation. Most of the papers that will appear in these two issues were prepared for a special session on income distribution held during the Eleventh General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, held at Nathanya, Israel, in August 1969. The present issue contains theoretical papers; the following one will present more empirical work. This introductory paper is intended to indicate the relationships among the papers that follow, and to suggest possible future directions for work in this area. In the latter connection, the author discusses the use of microanalytic models applied to microdata sets dealing with individuals and households.

Notes: A positive theory of income distribution based on assumptions concerning the supply of and demand for each type of productive service is presented. The demand function of the organizers of production may be derived from the maximization of profits with the income scale and the production function as restrictions. A normative theory based on the maximization of a social utility or welfare function is also considered. In the normative theory, production functions and balance equations (some representing compartmentalization of factor markets) are introduced as restrictions and again an income scale results, this time maximizing social welfare. Empirical testing is also considered. The positive theory was developed in part to take into consideration the fact that personal income distributions can reasonably well be described by log normal distributions, and that skill parameters are often normally distributed. Limited testing of the influence of wealth, intelligence, education, and sex suggest that these account for only a small part of the variance in the income distribution. This suggests the need for further research.

Notes: This paper reports on a study designed to improve the information on income flows and income distribution in the Netherlands national accounts by building a bridge between the national accounts and income tax statistics. The methods used are described in some detail, and the significance of the results obtained is discussed. The figures show rather substantial fluctuations in the share of proprietors relative to that of wage earners. This result is not unexpected, since the share of proprietors is much more sensitive to the level of economic activity, but it does limit the usefulness of the figures for short-run economic policy determination. In the longer run, however, they do show what the development of the average incomes of the various social groups has been, and to what extent government action has contributed to that development.

Notes: Has economic growth in developing countries led to increasing inequality in the size distribution of income? Following a brief review of the advantages and deficiencies of several traditional measures of income distribution, the author examines the evidence from Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Mexico in recent years. The findings suggest that the income shares received by the lower half and by the top 5 per cent of families in Puerto Rico and Mexico have declined from 1950 to 1963, while the income shares received by the bottom nine deciles of families in Argentina have also fallen during the same period. The rising Gini ratio and standard deviation of the logs of income, both indicating greater inequality, contrast with a declining coefficient of variation for all three countries.More detailed sectoral distributions for each year reveal greater equality within agriculture than non-agriculture for Puerto Rico and Mexico, while Argentina and the United States demonstrate less equality within agriculture. The trends in the countrywide distributions are consistent with the observation of the increasing differential between sectors, the increasing weight of the more unequal sector, and the increasing level of inequality within both sectors. These trends, however, are qualified by the particular set of measures which are applied to the data. Finally, the author speculates on possible explainations for these trends in terms of changes in the crop and industry mix.

Notes: This article presents the results of a study of distributions of wage rates in approximately 250 trades, comprising 225,000 workers, in Copenhagen in the second quarter of 1951. It examines particularly the effects of heterogeneity within trades and aggregation upon the resulting distributions, both for individual trades and for all trades combined. Separate distributions are studied for men and women, for skilled and unskilled, and for three types of institutional wage payment systems.

Notes: This paper, the first of a two-part series, surveys the literature in the field of income and wage distributions. The author divides work in this area into two schools: the theoretic-statistical school, and the socio-logical school. Within each of these groups he reviews leading contributions. He then examines the work of Tinbergen, which, the author feels, fits into neither of the older classifications; rather, Tinbergen approaches the distribution of income as a problem in analyzing the supply of and demand for various attributes, such as intelligence, physical strength, ability to get along with people, etc. In conclusion, the author points out areas which he feels need further work. The paper is based upon the author's book in Danish, Indkomst-og lonfordelinger.

Notes: Capital gains are an important source of personal income in the United States but they are not included in the national accounts or the official estimate of personal income and saving. Individuals report their realized gains for tax purposes but the economic theorist would include both realized and accrued gains in income. National income theorists continue to debate whether capital gains should be included in income but, because of the many conceptual and statistical problems involved in estimating capital gains, no satisfactory estimates have been developed. Consequently, the debate has stayed mainly at the theoretical level. This paper deals with the methodology of estimating accrued capital gains. A simple analytical model is developed to estimate capital gains from data on market value and net acquisitions of an asset but the model can be adapted to incorporate asset prices directly. It is shown that the methods used for estimating accrued gains in the past are special cases of the model proposed in the paper. The model is then used for estimating gains accruing to individuals in the United States on their holdings of corporate stock, real estate and livestock during 1948–1964.During this period accrued gains have amounted to roughly five times the realized gains reported for tax purposes; corporate stock and real estate are the most important sources of capital gains and corporate stock accounts for almost two-thirds of all accrued gains. The paper goes on to examine the implications of these estimates for the existing series on personal income and saving in the United States. The inclusion of accrued gains would increase the variance in the official estimates but personal saving is affected more than personal income. The paper concludes with an evaluation of these results and some suggestions for further research.

Notes: In both political discussions and scientific literature the income distribution has come to occupy a central position for the consideration of social welfare and economic equalization. It has been assumed that an individual's income reflects his consumption opportunities and therefore his standard of living or economic welfare. The thesis of this paper is, however, that there are reasons for being quite pessimistic about drawing meaningful conclusions from income distribution data. As illustrated by the use of Swedish data, the distribution of income gives an extremely incomplete picture of the distribution of consumption for a wide variety of definitional and statistical reasons. The distribution of consumption, furthermore, cannot be transformed into a corresponding distribution of welfare, since there is no well defined concept of welfare. The treatment of public consumption in empirical analysis of the distribution of welfare also raises problems. The paper closes with the presentation of the conceptual basis for an alternative to the traditional method of analyzing the distribution of income.

Notes: There are serious questions about the social costs and benefits of extending the role of prices in the national accounts. The costs may be greater, and the benefits smaller, than is commonly supposed. Many important uses of price (and other) data do not require that these data be organized within an elaborate—or even any—framework of national accounts. Also, the basic price (and other) data are still too often very scanty and rough. Would it not be better to devote available resources to improving these data rather than trying to force them, prematurely, into an elaborated set of national accounts?

Notes: “The whole question of making inter-spatial comparisons between countries is a most complicated and hazardous business” (Mr. Campion); international comparisons of a particular value aggregate between countries present a difficult problem connected with the conversion of national value aggregates into a comparable magnitude. This paper presents an alternative approach in that an internationally comparable value aggregate for each country is prepared by the international average prices of commodities which are determined simultaneously with the partial exchange rates of national currencies to a standard currency. The calculated partial exchange rates are so defined as to reflect the purchasing power of national currencies in respect of the group of commodities selected. Consequently, the resulting value aggregate for international comparison has a quantity dimension, eliminating the effect due to the different purchasing power of national currencies in which original prices are quoted. The other methods of international comparison so far being used by other research workers, such as C. Clerk and M. Gilbert and his associates, are examined in the light of the properties of the present method and the crucial differences are delineated. Using the method proposed, an international comparison is made of the aggregate value of agricultural products for 11 selected countries in the world, with sub-divisions into two regions.

Notes: The objective of this paper is to provide a conceptual basis for separating social product and social factor input accounts into price and quantity components. Despite the essential similarity between concepts of real product and real factor input, the measurement of social factor outlay in constant prices is not well established in social accounting practice.Production accounts are constructed for the United States in current and constant prices, including social product and social factor outlay, for the period 1929–1967. The resulting estimates are applied to the measurement of total factor productivity and the study of the responsiveness of product and factor intensities to price changes.

Notes: Macroeconomic productivity in Israel is here conceived as comparison of output with factor inputs during given periods, and as creation of sustained capacity out of given resource increments. However, present social accounting practice prevents full implementation of this second approach.In contrast to nine European countries, only one third of the rapid growth rate of Israel in 1950–1965 is “explained” by the “Residual” because of relatively large infrastructural investments and of growth problems. One of these problems is inflationary pressures which caused productivity increases to restrain the rise of product prices by 30 per cent only below the rise of input prices. The real productivity gain accrued, in Israel and in the U.S.A. (1919–1957), nearly fully to labor because unit returns to capital remained constant whereas those to labor sharply rose.Some refinements of the statistical models are attempted by incorporating the utilization rates of labor and capital (for industry); and by measuring product from the uses, instead of from the income, side, adding the differences to the capital shares. This makes distributive factor shares nearly constant as postulated by Cobb-Douglas.In order to get a basis for appraising efficiency in creating long-term capacity, that part of product increments is measured which represents rises of p.c. final domestic uses and changes in the export surplus. This “net margin” formed in Israel one fifth and in the U.S.A. (1889–1913) much less of incremental product. Though in Israel one quarter, and in the U.S.A. over half (in 1919–1953) of the net margin went into sonsumption, large proportions of it presumably actually created human capacity. A comparison of product growth rates with population growth, and of the breakdown of the resulting p.c. product growth rates into full final uses, for Israel and two groups, of developed and less developed countries in the fifties shows, inter-alia, that in the L.D.C. only small proportions of their presumable capacity creation was financed by net capital inflows, thus imposing upon them domestic saving rates which presumably are too high to be sustainable.

Notes: There are both major philosophical and major econometric questions to be faced in the measurement of inequality of income. The scaling of different sizes and types of families can never be unique and may be a function of real income. However, even subjective guesses may be better than doing nothing. Demographic changes, such as the increase in pensioners with the increase in life expectancy, affects the distribution of income, and it seems desirable to estimate the separate effect of their influence. The extent to which the inequality of incomes is reduced by all taxes and benefits combined has remained remarkably constant in the U.K. over the period for which estimates have been made (1937–1967). The progressive effect of all taxes and benefits combined is largely the result of benefits (in cash and kind). The stability in the degree of inequality of original income is much more difficult to explain. A number of factors which reduce or increase inequality can be identified for further analysis.

Notes: In the introduction of the paper, Economic Accounts are defined as a set of statistics useful in economic analysis and region is defined as a province. The paper is divided into four sections the first of which contains a brief historical outline of the development of demands for provincial economic accounts and the Dominion Bureau of Statistics' response to these needs. Apart from a description of the more well-known conceptual difficulties, some of the fundamental problems of the usefulness and applicability of a national accounting framework to the regional scene are discussed. The resource problems of constructing analytically meaningful and reliable as well as spatially reconcilable regional accounts are described.Section II outlines the impact of present policies and problems on the development of regional statistics. It describes the reasons for the Bureau's desire to strengthen its data base in regional terms and the decision to await possible construction of regional accounts till the regional data base has been fleshed out in a more systematic manner. With the development of the latter, the ability, advantages and disadvantages of the provinces undertaking their own estimates must also be more fully explored. The third part of the paper deals with an over-view of work in Canada on provincial accounts carried out by organizations other than the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Section IV gives a very summary description of the data gaps which exist in presently available regional statistics.

Notes: PRIM I is a numerical model which has been extensively used as a basis for an income policy in Norway in recent years. It is a static, cost-push, input-output model. Wage rates, agricultural prices, productivities and world market prices are treated as exogenous variables, and the model derives short-term changes in income shares and in the national price level from changes in these exogenous variables. A key feature of the model is a distinction between “exposed industries” which are subject to strong foreign price competition, and “sheltered industries” which are relatively free of such competition. These two groups of industries are found to react with very different pricing policies in response to increases in costs; furthermore, possibly for technological reasons, the export industries have greater scope than the majority of the sheltered industries for compensating cost increases through productivity gains. These two facts are shown to have important implications for a price and income policy. It is demonstrated, i.a. that the goal of a stable national price level is, in general, inconsistent with the maintenance of stable income shares when exchange rates are kept constant.

Notes: In a recent issue of the Review of Income and Wealth[1], Uma Datta Roy Choudhury presented some results on consumption and saving functions in India. While the study is interesting, some of the results are quite peculiar. Thus she reports a marginal propensity to save of 0.88 for the urban sector, an abnormally high figure. Other available evidence points to a much lower figure. Again she reports a negative marginal propensity to consume out of permanent income for urban households. This makes no economic sense. Furthermore her attempts at explaining urban consumption behaviour are not very successful. In this paper, we shall show that these suspicious results are the consequences of the measurement and definitions of the variables, and the specification of the functions. Once these shortcomings are removed, we obtain more satisfactory and more plausible results.In the first section we present a critique of Mrs. Roy Choudhury's article. In the second section we present our results. The last section summarizes the conclusions.

Notes: This paper compares the income distribution of Canada and the United States as well as other characteristics of the population such as the labour force and income trends in the two countries in the post-war years. In both countries family income distributions show similar degrees of inequality and similar movements in real incomes through time. However, an examination of Canadian data suggests that differences do exist in underlying patterns. For example, there are greater earnings differentials between skilled and unskilled workers in Canada than in the United States while on the other hand in the United States greater differences exist between family incomes with heads in different age groups than is the case in Canada.

Notes: The income distribution statistics which are based on income for a single year show a far larger inequality of income than actually exists. The distribution of annual incomes differs from the distribution of lifetime income partly because of short run fluctuations because of such things as sickness, unemployment, and unusual gains, and partly because different individuals are at different points in their life cycles. The vertical distribution of income can be considered to be the distribution of lifetime income. The horizontal distribution can be considered to be the differences arising in the current period due to short run fluctuations and differences in the age-income cycle of persons. The observed annual income distribution statistics are a mixture of the vertical and horizontal distributions. The estimation of the lifetime income distribution implies discounting, and also raises questions as to the treatment of transfers, subsidies, public investments and taxes. However, statistics based upon a mixture of the horizontal and vertical distributions of income are of no interest.

Notes: In both developed and developing countries, the national accounting statistician who wishes to establish a composite set of values in current and base year prices is faced with a series of difficulties arising from a lack of indicators which are adequate for relating quantities and values within the national accounting framework. Consequently, ad hoc solutions are extensively adopted and use is made of price data which in the majority of cases have been collected for completely different purposes. The inter-relationship of prices, quantities and values fundamental to the compatibility of the national accounts can therefore be, and often is, a rather tenuous one. In the case of many developing countries, the situation is accentuated by a very volatile behaviour of prices, a greater impact of price change and a much greater scarcity of useable statistical material. In addition, since structural change is frequently implicit in a development process, the pattern of values and of prices is often variable and irregular—this in turn creates problems in determining relative importance, in assigning weights and in imputing for prices of items not directly entering into the calculation of the indicators.This paper analyses the series which are most commonly available, it points out the major deficiencies or limitations and it attempts to formulate a few guide-lines for determining priorities called for in an integrated network of price statistics.

Notes: The paper discusses the role of prices in the framework of the new System of National Accounts (SNA) in terms of three major uses: (1) deflation, (2) price indicators, and (3) price analysis. Following a brief review of the price and quantity measures required by the new SNA with its emphasis on deflation of commodity flows and input-output accounts, in addition to the more conventional deflation of final demand categories, the paper discusses some of the conceptual, methodological and data problems involved in implementing the various uses of prices in the new SNA.Implementing the use of prices as deflators depends, in part, on the concept of output selected (national versus domestic; gross versus net), and which of six concepts of valuation, ranging from purchasers'value to true factor cost, is used. Some of the difficulties in deflating nonmarket flows (e.g., interplant transfers) and industry value added, based on the double deflation method, are discussed.In concept price deflators, which have shifting weights, cannot be used as price indicators, which should have fixed weights. In practice, this is often disregarded and the deflators are used as price indicators. The paper support the SNA recommendation for the development of price indexes with fixed weights to be used as price indicators, in addition to the implicit price deflators. Research in the United States indicates that differences in weights can result in different price measures for various subperiods, components of demand and sector output.Periodic revisions in weights to provide more current fixed weights for price and quantity indexes in each subperiod may minimize the problem but it introduces a new problem—lack of comparability with the constant price tables in the SNA which have fixed weights for the entire period.The new SNA provides a comprehensive and integrated framework for price analysis including the analysis of the structure of aggregate price changes, the industrial origin of final demand prices, and the impact of price change in one sector of the economy on the rest of the economy. Some major gaps which need to be overcome in order to implement the use of the new SNA for price analysis include the development of industry capital stock estimates, separate estimates of proprietors’income, reconciliation of value added and distribution share estimates, and the development of a wide variety of information to supplement the conventional input-output tables in the SNA.Implementing the various objectives of price measures within the framework of the accounts will require a number of improvements in existing price measures and expanding the scope of coverage. “List” prices should be superseded by “transactions” prices and better techniques and data need to be developed to provide for quality adjustment of prices. Coverage will need to be expanded to include services, freight rates, trade margins, government expenditures, and also fill in gaps for many manufactured products. Finally, where possible, use of unit values as price indexes or deflators, e.g., imports and exports, should be replaced by direct price measures.

Notes: The paper develops a descriptive history of the changing level and sources of income of the male population of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1959, as a preliminary step in building a model of income determination. The history is based on data from a one percent sample of the taxpaying population of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1959. Analysis of income sources received by male birth cohorts is followed by summary data on individual income variation.Changes in earnings of birth cohorts appear to be determined by changes in labor force participation, general productivity increases, and acquisition of skills. Education, as reflected in occupational status, appears to affect the initial level and lifetime profile of earnings; however, education has played a changing role in the dynamics of earnings.Movements in non-earned income appear to be determined by rising real yields on capital, accumulation of wealth, and possibly by asset conversion and selective migration and mortality favoring wealth holders. Cohort asset accumulation for the period seems to have been determined by the growth rate of earnings, life cycle contingencies, and the pattern of asset prices and yields during the period.Analysis of individuals’ incomes over the period reveals great heterogeneity of experience of individuals within birth cohorts and within occupations. This suggests that study of micro units is necessary to obtain behavioral information obscured in aggregate cohort data.

Notes: This paper deals with transition-matrices as a tool to describe the changes within size-distributions of firms. In a theoretical section the estimation technique is discussed and further uses of the matrices are described. The latter means derivation of steady-state distributions and measures for mobility.The theoretical part is followed by another section, where empirical results are given. The approach has been applied to data concerning the largest firms with respect to sales within five areas, viz.:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1) The United States2) Countries outside the United States3) Europe4) Scandinavia5) Sweden.In this section it can be seen that the probability of staying within a certain class is the largest followed in size by the probability of a transition to an adjacent class. Other probabilities are mostly estimated as zero.During the investigated period 1956–1965 movements towards a steady-state can be seen. There still exist, however, some differences between actual and theoretical distributions.The average time spent in the different classes varies about 10 years. An index for mobility shows values, which mean mobilities, which are 10–20% of the mobilities of a perfect mobile industry. The indices follow fairly well a ranking based on Gini's coefficient of concentration.It is most necessary to obtain further knowledge concerning the process. Thus one extension of this study would be a study using the approach of Monte-Carlo simulation.

Notes: The method of scoring introduced by R. A. Fisher and C. R. Rao is useful to find solutions from complicated maximum likelihood equations. The purpose of this note is to indicate the implications of this technique in econometrics. For example the linearized maximum likelihood LML estimates of Rothenberg and Leenders (1) are only special values of Rao's estimates.

Notes: This paper describes the application of a linear programming model to project selection and resource allocation problems in two industrial R & D laboratories. Mathematical models have not been widely used in practice because of the inherent uncertainty of research. The model discussed here yields information about the outcome of decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The elements of the model are developed, using simple examples, and the form of the complete model outlined. Benefit evaluation is carried out using probabilistic networks and uncertainty in benefits included by utilizing the concept of certainty equivalence. The use of the model in practical situations is discussed, with examples of the information obtained from the solution, and sensitivity studies to investigate the uncertain environment are described. The result is a flexible model, which produces information necessary for planning purposes and which is acceptable to practising R & D Managers.

Notes: Problem areas currently receiving attention in the literature are discussed. It is suggested that considerable effort will be needed before much of the theory will be translated into practice. In certain areas it is argued that methods which have been proposed in the past have not been based on adequate descriptions of the real problems. A plea is made for more research into the research process and for more empirical testing and validation of the methods and procedures which have been proposed as aids to research managers.

Notes: Communication networks in R & D laboratories are shown to have structural characteristics, which when properly understood can be employed to more effectively maintain the laboratories' personnel abreast of technological developments. Informal relations and physical location are shown to be important determinants of this structure. Informal relations can be developed through formation of project teams and intergroup transfers and loans. The effect of physical location on communications is especially strong and should be given serious consideration when designing research facilities.

Notes: Scanning and transmission electron micrographs of various shales establish the close correlation between clay-flake orientation and fissility. The shales with the best fissility have the highest degree of preferred orientation. Randomness of clay flakes prevails in non-fissile claystones. The results suggest that the fabric of shales may result either from the deposition of dispersed clay or by the collapse of clay floccules after deposition.

Notes: Sand volcanoes have been found in three sedimentary associations in the Upper Carboniferous Bude Formation. In two of these associations they formed when the dewatering of fluidized sand beds, deposited from traction carpets, was temporarily inhibited by the deposition of overlying units. In the third association the volcanoes formed during the normal post-depositional compaction of fluidized, muddy, poorly sorted units deposited from subaqueous mudflows. While is seems that the tops of fluidized sand beds were characteristically sheared by a fairly powerful current immediately after being deposited, the waters above the recently deposited mudflow units were commonly stagnant, allowing sand volcano growth.

Notes: Pelitic rocks were followed from unmetamorphosed clays and marls of Upper Triassic and Lower Liassic to anchimetamorphosed phyllites of the Alpine border region in Switzerland. Phengite and Al-rich chlorite formed from mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite; pyrophyllite from kaolinite. For the formation of paragonite, the following sequence is proposed: irregular mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite → regular mixed-layer mica/montmorillonite → mixed-layer paragonite/phengite → paragonite.Besides the formation of new minerals in the transition zone (anchizone) between diagenesis and greenschist facies, other changes with increasing metamorphic grade are: the crystallinity of illite (in the sense of Kubler, 1967) increases, the intensity ratio 002/001 of the illite basal reflexions increases, 1Md illite changes to 2M1 phengite; the slates change colour from red to pink; the mean density increases; and textural changes due to reactions between clastic quartz and clay cement occur.

Notes: Fabrics of Tertiary shales from the Rhinegraben (southwestern Germany) were studied by methods for fine-particle measurement including grain-size distribution, porosity, pore-size distribution, and specific surface area.The most frequent pore radii (rm) are found to decrease with increasing overburden, this decrease in relation to porosity being more rapid in shales, which are cemented by carbonate. The specific surface area (Sg) is not affected by pressure down to a depth of approx. 1,000 m. With increasing compaction pressure the specific surface areas are found to decrease indicating a fusion of clay-mineral particles, which corresponds to the alteration of smectite minerals into 10-Å mica.The sorting index of pore-size distribution (Sop) remains constant throughout the shallow-burial range. Below 1,000 m the sorting index increases considerably. This effect is caused by the coarse non-clay components of the shales, since on both sides of a nearly isometric quartz grain, for instance, large pores may be kept open even under high compaction pressure. This effect is also indicated by the skewness of the pore-size distribution, which shifts from negative to positive values near 1,000 m of overburden. Above this level fine pores predominate while deeper the relatively coarse pores are more abundant.This study shows that the conventional mechanical model of a clay-mineral fabric reacting on overburden pressure is applicable to the shallow-burial range only. After mineral transformations have commenced, the fabrics loose their original grain-size distribution, so that their porosities are no longer controlled solely by mechanical effects. With the Rhinegraben shales the shallow-burial range is limited to a depth of about 1,000 m.

Notes: Phyllosilicates and zeolites grew in Columbia River sediments during hydrothermal experiments at relatively low temperatures and pressures. Although the new minerals may not be equilibrium assemblages, our results strongly support the idea that matrix minerals in graywackes may be the result of alteration of components thermodynamically unstable in the environment of diagenesis. Scanning electron micrographs show that the new minerals have formed as a mesh-like coating on original grains. The textural relationship of the new minerals to the original minerals resembles graywacke texture.

Notes: Experimental investigation shows that amorphous silica is converted into quartz through cristobalite under hydrothermal conditions. The rate of transformation, essentially dependent on the reaction temperature, was studied on the basis of quantitative analyses of quartz in the products, and the variation of quartz content was elucidated by taking the induction period into consideration. The transformation is a consecutive reaction involving two first-order steps, from amorphous silica to low-cristobalite and from low-cristobalite to low-quartz. Kinetic data such as the rate constants and the energy of activation are obtained.Mineralogical varieties of silica found in siliceous deposits suggest that the transformation probably takes place under natural conditions. Younger deposits contain amorphous silica or cristobalite, whereas older ones are invariably composed of quartz. By assuming that the transformation process observed experimentally holds in nature, kinetic data can be estimated. Since the process depends upon the thermal history, it is possible to follow the transformation process for a given model of a thermal history. An example of computed results is compared with the geological evidence, and it is concluded that the mineralogical variation of silica is accounted for by the transformation process.Zonal distribution of silica minerals apparently corresponds to that of zeolite minerals, and the transformation of silica is considered to occur during diagenesis. Evidently, almost all diagenetic facies represent intermediate stages on the way to the ultimate equilibrium. The cristobalite stage described in this paper belongs to one of these stages, and is referable to the early stage of diagenesis. It is suggested that silica minerals can be used as clues to understand a progressive change in diagenesis.

Notes: The Ranger Canyon and Mowitch Formations are the youngest Permian strata in the Rocky Mountain Front Ranges. They constitute a thin, widespread and clearly defined stratigraphic entity covering approximately 60,000 sq. miles; they occur below Triassic beds and above a major, regional, intra-Permian unconformity, initiated by a transgression which started in the northwest. Beds of the above entity are therefore diachronous. The erosion surface is overlain by polymict, phosphatic conglomerates containing mature lag gravels and immature breccio-conglomerates and corrosion breccias.Rock types are either sandstones or silty and sandy cherts, phosphorites and occasionally dolomites. Clastic components are dominantly mature quartz (some pseudomorphs gypsum), phosphate, some feldspar, negligible clay, and stable detrital minerals, necessitating: (1) many cycled, clastic sedimentary rock; (2) local gypsum; and (3) phosphate producing, distributive provinces.Secondary features include primary cementation by quartz, chalcedony, dolomite, sulphate and phosphate, with replacement mainly by chalcedony. Contraction fractures are cemented by quartz (after anhydrite and fluorite), calcite and barite. Accessory authigenic minerals are hematite, sulphates (pseudomorphed by quartz), fluorite, apatite and dolomite. Diagenesis therefore occurred within a chemically active environment.Minerals present indicate: (1) phosphate producing and (2) evaporite producing environments, the components for which may be obtained from sea water by: (a) a biogeochemical phosphate-fixation cycle; and (b) concentration of brines by interstitial refluxion.A Recent environmental parallel occurs along the coast of Baja, California. Phosphate produced off-shore contributes to quartz-rich sediments prograding seawards; evaporitic conditions produce minimum carbonate and maximum sulphate precipitation.The sequence of events envisaged for the Permian rocks started with phosphate corrosion of bed-rock and cementation of lag gravels; some phosphate was contributed to shoreline, with quartz and gypsum sands, prograding over the basal conglomerate. Sand cementation by carbonate occurred in shoreline and intertidal zones, and by sulphate in the supratidal zones. Concentration of brines by refluxion, and local silica enrichment, facilitated silica precipitation and replacement. Penecontemporaneous silicification of Late Permian sediments was therefore instrumental in their ultimate preservation.

Notes: This paper presents the main trends in epigenetic research in the U.S.S.R. in the last years:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1Study of epigenetic zonality in thick series of sedimentary rocks of various ages and tectonic regions, (zones of unaltered clay matrix, of altered clay matrix, of quartzitic structures and hydromica-chloritic cement, and of prick-like structures and phyllite-like schists).2Principles of stadial analysis and mineral indicators of different epigenetic stages (clay minerals, organic matter, zeolites, feldspars, sulfides).3Facies of regional epigenesis connecting the main petrographic families of unaltered terrigenic rocks (quartz sandstones with kaolinitic matrix and the same composition of associated clays, acidic arkoses with hydromicaceous clays, lithoclastic sands with several matrix components and associated clays, and volcanogenic greywackes) with “related” facies of regional metamorphism.4Some practical aspects of epigenesis are: for petroleum geology: maximum depth of burial according to porosity, interruption of quartz, feldspar, sphene, epidote, carbonate, biotite, and clay mineral epigenesis by oil migration; and for ore geology: (a) initial epigenesis: ore impregnation (e.g., volkonskoite in wood remains) due to intrastratal solution of heavy minerals and leaching of rock fragments; (b) deep epigenesis: e.g., galena impregnations due to release of trace elements during dissolution of rock forming minerals e.g., feldspars; and (c) metagenesis: “Alpine” veins across and along bedding, filled, e.g., with copper ores.

Notes: The paper describes a method for determining the time of formation of oil and gas accumulations on the basis of the number of epigenetic minerals contained in granular reservoir rocks. The beginning of the accumulation is established by comparing the epigenesis stage in the oil- or gas-bearing crest areas of the trap with the water-bearing part of the reservoir at different depths of the geological section. This takes into account that the epigenetic processes tend to intensify with depth and to slow down after the rocks become filled with hydrocarbons.The time of accumulation completion is found by comparing the degree of epigenetic alteration of the oil- and gas-bearing reservoirs with the water-bearing reservoirs occurring at the oil (gas)-water interface in the trap. The greater the differences, the older is the age of the pool completion. Lack of a difference indicates a youthful pool completion.In this paper, the ratio of detrital to authigenic titanium minerals, the quantity of regenerated quartz grains, and the pelitization of feldspars have been used.The application of this method is exemplified by oil deposits occurring in the productive Valangien and Hauterive beds (Lower Cretaceous) of the Ust-Balyk and Megion fields of western Siberia.

Notes: One of the productive horizons (17th) of north Sakhalin has been studied. The areas within and beyond oil and gas pools, near the top and at the flanks of structures were compared with areas where the horizon under study was waterbearing. The rocks were least transformed by secondary processes within oil accumulations, where a sudden increase was observed in the content of feldspars and accessory minerals (epidote, ilmenite and sphene) which had not undergone intrastratal solution. Inside gas pools, however, no deceleration of epigenesis has been observed. This points to a more recent (post-Pliocene) accumulation of gas, whereas the first oil migration in these Miocene strata occurred in the Upper Pliocene, according to the hampered epigenesis.

Notes: The results obtained by the author in the study of clay-minerals diagenesis are compared critically with the principal publications in this field, giving a general picture of the transformation of sheet silicates.Kaolinite minerals are related to the surficial zones of the earth's crust where they are formed. They are characterized by the hexacoordination of aluminium. They furnish paleogeographic indications in ancient sediments. During diagenesis they are very sensitive to the geochemical environment, stable in acid conditions, unstable in alkaline conditions. However, the increase in temperature by burial causes their destruction sooner or later. In the transitional zone to metamorphism (anchizone), kaolinite is not present. Only dickite and nacrite can be observed, provided that the environment is acid.Montmorillonites are hydrated minerals. The rise in temperature and above all in pressure during burial expels water from the interlayers. Concentrated interstitial solutions of diagenesis provide cations which replace molecules of water between the layers. It is an irreversible reaction which produces 14-Å minerals (chlorites) or 10-Å minerals (illites), passing generally through mixed-layer structures. The lack of montmorillonite is normal in formations which have undergone a marked burial.Mixed-layers are intermediate stages which occur during degradation by weathering and during aggradation by deep diagenesis. This aggradation is the result of an incorporation of certain cations taken up from interstitial solutions, and of a rearrangement within the lattice. There are two major pathways: a potassium and sodium pathway, which produces the illites, then the micas, passing possibly by regular mixed-layering of the allevardite-rectorite type; and a magnesium pathway, which produces the chlorites, passing possibly by a regular mixed-layering of the corrensite type. These mixed-layers can remain stable until the border of meta-morphism (anchizone).Micaceous clay minerals or illites form a very heterogenous group in the sediments which have been hardly diagenetized. Particles of diverse origin are found. They become more regular during burial. In deep diagenesis and the anchizone, crystallo-graphic parameters of the illite are sufficiently well defined to serve as a scale of recrystallization, a zoneographic index. The morphology of the particles changes. Polymorphic types 1Md and 1M are replaced by the 2M-type. The sharpness of the 10-Å peak, conventionally called “crystallinity”, is an interesting quantitative criterium, together with the intensity ratio of the 5-Å and 10-Å peaks, which is related to the chemical composition of the octahedral layer.Micas in low-grade metamorphism, called sericites by petrographers, replace the illites discussed above. They are different from the true micas by a weaker layer charge, less than 0.9 by half-cell. They often contain sodium (paragonitic muscovites and paragonites). The octahedral charge (zero for the muscovite) is generally high, due to the replacement of Al by Fe2+ and Mg (phengites). These transformations should not obscure the fact that metamorphism is also accompanied by crystalline growth and massive neoformation.Chlorites are the least well-known clay minerals in diagenesis. Detrital particles can be aggraded to chlorite during early diagenesis by passing through the mixed-layer stage of corrensite. A massive growth of chlorite is observed in late diagenesis and the anchizone. Illite and chlorite slates give place to sericite and chlorite schists. At present, general data are not available on the crystal chemistry of chlorites in the anchizone and the greenschist facies.The stages in the diagenetic evolution of clay minerals are too little understood to be able to give them precise limits. However, the following provisional scheme can be proposed:(1) Early diagenesis (= “diagenesis” of Russian authors; = the “shallow-burial stage” of Müller, 1967a). In this stage all the clay minerals are stable; some undergo aggradation by adsorption of Mg, K and Na (various mixed-layers); some are neoformed (montmorillonites).(2) Middle diagenesis (= “early catagenesis or epigenesis” of Russian authors; the “deep-burial stage” of Müller, 1967a, includes this stage and all the following until metamorphism). In this stage the sediment becomes compact. It has lost at least 50% of its connate water. Porosity is high and circulation still plays an essential part. Some detrital minerals, such as biotite, are unstable. All the clay minerals are still stable, but many types of replacement take place, due to interstitial circulation. Dickitization of kaolinite and illitization of montmorillonite can already be observed.(3) Deep or late diagenesis (= “late catagenesis or epigenesis” of Russian authors). In this stage the temperature is greater than 100 °C, pressure increases and porosity becomes very weak. Montmorillonites and irregular mixed-layers disappear. Kaolinite recrystallizes as dickite in acid environment. These changes are irreversible.(4) Anchizone (= “metagenesis” of Russian authors; = “zone anchimétamorphique” of Kubler, 1964). This is the transitional zone to metamorphism. It agrees with temperatures around 200 °C. Illite and chlorite are almost the only sheet silicates. However, dickite can be observed as well as pyrophyllite generally associated with allevardite. The crystallographic parameters of illite define the limit of the following zone, the metamorphic epizone or greenschist facies.The crystallochemical processes that take place during the diagenetic evolution of clay minerals are schematically the following:(1) Gradual tetracoordination of aluminium.(2) Filling of octahedral sites either by interlayer cations, either by cations derived from outside the lattice, without the distinction dioctahedral-trioctahedral becoming very clear.(3) Interlayer exchange between crystal lattice and interstitial solution. Gradual closing of the layers by alkaline cations or octahedral brucite-like sheets.(4) Massive crystalline growth in the anchizone and the epizone.These processes are roughly symmetrical with those which occur during weathering.This review is a summary of the conclusions drawn in a Docteur-ès-Sciences thesis (G. Dunoyer de Segonzac, 1969: Les Minéraux argileux dans la Diagenèse. Passage au Métamorphisme, 339 p., 45 tables, 110 illus.) to be published as part of the series Mémoires du Service de la Carte Géologique d'Alsace et de Lorraine. Most of the evidence on which these conclusions have been based is not cited directly in this article, but can be found in the thesis mentioned above, to which the reader is referred.

Notes: The paper presents the dynamics of the structural change of kaolinite and its polymorphous (polytype) modifications at different stages of sedimentary rock formation. Sedimentogenesis is characterized by a gradual disordering of structure of triclinic kaolinite, the degree of disorder produced being proportional to the intensity and duration of the influence of the hydrodynamic medium. Epigenesis (deep) is connected with gradual transformation of kaolinite into dickite through the stage of mixed-layer growths inheriting the structure of twin rotations of disordered kaolinite from the sedimentogenesis stage.In metagenesis filling of fissures with dickite or nacrite takes place. The former is peculiar to the general thermodynamic medium of deep epigenesis/metagen-esis, whereas nacrite is an indicator of intense stress and seems to be due to transformation of dickite.

Notes: In the course of deep weathering of a biotite gneiss, biotite is transformed into mixed-layer biotite-vermiculite hydrobiotite. Later biotite-vermiculite is transformed into biotite-chlorite under the action of hydrothermal solutions at the stage of epigenesis.

Notes: Experimental studies on saturation of montmorillonite with potassium showed that sorption of potassium tends to produce a regular alternation of the interlayer regions.The sorptive nature of the potassium fixation by montmorillonite appears to form the basis of the epigenetic formation of rectorite.

Notes: Relationships between crystal chemistry and genetic conditions are presented for a series of dioctahedral micaceous minerals. Using a ferruginicity index, three groups of micaceous minerals are distinguished: Al-micas, Fe-illites, and glauconites. The degree of Al-for-Si substitution in the tetrahedral sheets of micaceous minerals depends on their thermodynamic genetic conditions. If pressure and temperature increase, the Al-IV content increases and the octahedral sheet is “cleaned” from divalent cations. This process is accompanied by structural alteration with a polytype sequence 1Md-1M-2M1. Tetrahedral and octahedral charges are the same for micaceous minerals formed at the surface (sedimentogenesis/diagenesis) and are independent of the iron content. For most illites of sedimentary rocks an authigenic origin is suggested.

Notes: Precision measurements of the densities and the optical constants of authigenic low-temperature orthoclases, albites, muscovites and quartz, and comparisons with those of their high-temperature counterparts of identical or similar composition proved that the authigenic orthoclase and muscovite have significantly lower densities than the high-temperature modifications.For quartz and albite density differences are not established.The optical constants of the low-temperature minerals (except for quartz) likewise possess specific properties, manifested in the orientation of the optical indicatrix and the values of the angle 2V.

Notes: This paper describes a new equipment for investigating the density properties of minerals and rocks. A description is given of the principle and operation of a gravitation gradient tube, of density standards and of a device for the precise density determination and separation of minerals. The possibility of using the method described for geological and mineralogical studies is discussed.

Notes: The texture of carbonate cement in clastic rocks reflects the conditions of: (1) free pore crystallization; or (2) recrystallization under elevated temperatures and pressures. Fibrous carbonate cement may be formed as a result of preferential adsorption of clay particles or colloids in the direction perpendicular to c. Cryptocrystalline carbonate cement is formed in sandstones if the ratio carbonate/ argillaceous matter in less than 5 (for montmorillonite) or less than 3–4 (for illite), especially if it is near 2–1.The maximum amounts of isomorphic admixtures of Mg and Fe in calcite cement (see Fig.2) can be used for temperature reconstructions of the epigenetical environment.In deep-buried rocks which are almost closed systems, migration rates are lower than diffusion rates and microenvironments of detrital grain corrosion may exist adjacent to those of precipitation of the same mineral.

Notes: Based upon studies of natural quartz and upon laboratory experiments on mechanical and chemical destruction of quartz, it was established that the statistical density characteristics of detrital quartz change during sedimentary processes. Grains with defective structure, gas-liquid inclusions, inclusions of organic matter and other lighter minerals have lesser densities, whereas grains with inclusions of heavier minerals have larger densities than those of optically pure grains. The susceptibility to destruction is less for optically pure grains than for grains with lower or higher density. This is responsible for the increasing maturity of quartz sand during weathering and transport as indicated by the increasing percentage of optically pure grains. Mathematical modelling of the dynamics of this process was carried out.

Notes: The structure of multilayer polytype modifications of layer silicates may be regarded as the result of a combination of regularly oriented single layers. Accordingly, the optical constants of a single layer (of a monolayer polytype modification) may be used for the calculation of optical constants of any other multilayer polytype modification of a given type of layers.The formulas connecting the constants of a polytype modification of layer silicates have enabled the establishment of the main parameters (Ng, Nm, Np, 2V) of the muscovites 1M and 2M2 according to the known optical constants of the muscovite 2M1, and the computation of the new constants of kaolinite and nacrite based on the known parameters of dickite. The optical constants established theoretically were confirmed by direct measurements for muscovite 1M, muscovite 2M2 (gämbelite) and kaolinite. The optically positive character of kaolinite with +2V = 25° has been established.The assumption of the optical mixibility of finely dispersed polyminerallic media, in which the dimensions of monotype crystals are smaller than the visible light waves, made it possible to determine the quantitative relations of clay minerals in the mixtures based on optical constants of oriented aggregates.

Notes: The distinction of montmorillonite proper from beidellite is often based on the Li-test proposed by GREENE-KELLY (1953). However, when saturated with Li, true montmorillonite samples that contain considerable admixtures of SiO2 or Fe2O3hH2O behave in the same way as beidellites. An irreversible sorption of Li (after annealing at 250°C) is observed in such samples only after the admixed amorphous substance has been removed by leaching with a NaCO3 or HCI solution

Notes: A simple apparatus for measuring the angles of repose of masses of granular material in various media, based on the rotating-drum principle, is described. Two angles of repose are measured by this method. The critical angle of repose (ac), is defined as the angle through which a mass of granular material can be rotated before it fails by avalanching, and the angle of rest (aR), is defined as the inclination of the slope after avalanching has ceased.Measurements of the angles of repose of several materials in air and under water with the “rotatable-drum apparatus” indicate that for materials with similar surface characteristics the angles of repose increase with departure of the grains from a spherical form. For masses of spherical particles the angles of repose increase with increasing intergranular friction caused by changes in the surface characteristics of the spheres. For mixtures of spheres and cubes the angles of repose are proportional to the volumes of the end members present. For natural quartz sands the critical angle of repose (ac), is always greater in air than under water, but the angle of rest (aR), is the same in both media. Measurement of the inclinations of slip faces of subaerial dunes and subaqueous deltas indicates that these faces stand at, or less than, the angle of rest (aR), of the sand from which they are built.It is concluded that shape and surface characteristics of the particles have the greatest effect on the angles of repose.

Notes: Extensive data obtained by side-scan Asdic and echo-sounder equipments, viewed in conjunction with bottom notations on navigational charts and some seabed samples, show the widespread occurrence of sand ribbons, sand waves and sand patches on the continental shelf west of the British Isles and France. The close similarity of their directional trends with those of the strongest tidal currents strongly suggests a causal relationship which applies to much of the continental shelf, parts of the upper continental slope and also to off-lying shoals such as Rockall Bank. The sand transport paths broadly parallel the coasts in the epicontinental seas and on the open shelf west of the British Isles. In contrast, the paths are substantially normal to much of the coast of western France.

Notes: The Middle Pleistocene Belmont Formation of Bermuda consists in part of beach-dune biocalcarenites which underwent intense contemporaneous cementation and diagenesis. The beach deposits were contemporaneously cemented by fibrous isophacous cement to form beachrock, whereas previously deposited eolianites further inland underwent intense meteoric phreatic diagenesis, resulting in coarse-grained cementation and stabilization of most of the metastable components of the rock. Above the Belmont water table, vadose diagenesis was relatively ineffective in cementing and altering the biocalcarenites. Phreatic meteoric diagenesis is interpreted to be a very rapid process, relative to vadose meteoric diagenesis, and to result in a much coarser-grained sparite.

Notes: Diagenesis, including dolomitization, of Late Pleistocene reefs of North Jamaica is due to reaction with meteoric water. Although the reactions:〈list xml:id="l1" style="plain"〉Mg-calcite—calciteAragonite—calciteMg-calcite—dolomiteretain microarchitectural information, complete chemical redistribution takes place so that incongruently dissolved Mg-calcites, aragonite inversion mosaics (neomorphosed aragonite), and dolomitized red algae have similar isotopic compositions, resembling precipitated calcite cements. The minerals all appear to have stabilized in the meteoric water environment. The dolomite is not widely distributed, and is restricted to replacement of red algae. There has been no net addition of magnesium to the red algal clasts.

Notes: On Malekula Island pre-Miocene pelagic red mudstones are in tectonic contact with a thick marine succession of Early Miocene age, which is intruded by basaltic and andesitic dykes and sills with a calc-alkaline composition and by plutons. This succession is in faulted contact with Middle Miocene sedimentary rocks.The Lower Miocene succession consists of quartz-free volcanoclastic rocks, detrital limestones and pelagic sediments, and rare lava flows. Fifteen sedimentary facies have been recognized, all of which accumulated below the zone of strong wave or current action. Vertical changes in facies are common; facies relationships and associations and internal sedimentary structures indicate that many facies were transported by mass gravity processes. Texture and composition of clasts in the volcanoclastic rocks show that some facies were derived from subaerially erupted volcanic rocks, and others from submarine volcanoes. Clastic limestones consist largely of algal and coral fragments and benthonic foraminifers.The Lower Miocene palaeogeography resembled that in and around volcanic chains in present island arcs. Subaerial and submarine volcanoes fed by minor intrusions supplied epiclastic, pyroclastic and autoclastic debris which accumulated in deep water around the volcanic chain. Carbonate detritus was derived from reefs bordering the volcanic islands.The Middle Miocene succession consists of volcanic and reef-derived turbid-ites, pelagic sediments and tuffs. The epiclastic rocks in this succession were derived from the uplifted rocks of Early Miocene age and from bordering reefs.The presence of some ancient volcanic arcs, now located either within existing ares or within geosynclinal successions lying in or on the borders of continents, may be indicated only by quartz-poor turbidites containing abundant calc-alkaline volcanic detritus.

Notes: Two environments of phosphate deposition within carbonate rocks are distinguished on the basis of the relationship between phosphate content and the foraminiferal plankton/benthos (P/B) ratio in Senonian-Maastrichtian chalks of Galilee, Northern Israel:(1) A normal marine environment of phosphate deposition during Santonian time. This environment is characterized by a low, normal P2O5 content and a positive correlation between P/B ratio and P2O5. Since it is assumed that the P/B ratio increases with the depth of the sea, it is suggested that the phosphate content in carbonate rocks can be employed as a bathymetric indicator.(2) An “abnormal” high phosphate deposition environment, found mainly in Upper Campanian sediments and related genetically to the economic phosphorite deposits in the Negev (Central Israel). The negative correlation of P/B ratio to P2O5 is caused by a shallowing of the sea and a continuous increase in P2O5, (e.g., by upwelling currents or a terrigenous supply) throughout the Upper Campanian.

Notes: The self-operated pipette developed at the Geological Institute of the University of Florence, analyses the silt fraction of a sample at half-phi intervals. Operator assistance is only required during the first four minutes of analysis.

Notes: Longitudinal and vertical variation in grain orientation and size has been studied in eight turbidite greywacke beds from the Cloridorme Formation (Middle Ordovician), Gaspé, Quebec, Canada. The beds are exposed on a wave-cut platform near Grande Vallée, Gaspé. These beds were traced for about two miles along the strike (276°), which is almost parallel to the average current direction (274°) as indicated by sole marks.Agreement between grain orientation and other internal current-direction indicators such as graptolites and intra-bed lineation shows that grain fabric is primary in nature and that grains are typically aligned parallel to the current direction. Grain orientations are generally statistically non-significant in the upper massive part of the beds in the proximal region and significant in the rest of the beds. Most of the significant grain orientations are close to the sole direction in the proximal region and deviate from the sole direction by as much as 90° in the distal region. Grain orientations are increasingly divergent from the base towards the top of the bed. Current-normal grain orientations are observed in a plane-laminated part of a bed.The beds show a good grading in the proximal area and are ungraded or slightly reverse graded in the distal area. These grading characteristics are exhibited by both the mean and maximum grain size. Most beds show no appreciable variation in the mean grain size at the base of the bed along the strike. However, for one bed, the largest mean size at the base occurs in the middle of the outcrop and grain size decreases from this point both in the upstream and downstream directions.

Notes: Using a form factor, 〈inlineGraphic alt="inline image" href="urn:x-wiley:00370746:SED321:SED_321_mu1" location="equation/SED_321_mu1.gif"/〉 to represent particle shape, the dynamic sieve data of LUDWICK and HENDERSON (1968) can be presented as a single function, with a standard error of 4%.

Notes: The development of optically continuous quartz overgrowths is governed by the atomic structure and crystallographic orientation of the detrital quartz grains. Initial growth commences with the appearance of numerous oriented projections, with rhombohedral and prismatic form, on grain surfaces. Merging and overlap of the projections results in the formation of large crystal faces whose form is dependent upon the initial location of the projections with respect to the internal crystallographic axes. Growth is particularly rapid along the direction of the c-axis. For unicrystalline quartz grains the ultimate growth phase is the production of polyhedral quartz crystals having the appearance of hexagonal dipyramids. In polycrystalline grains each quartz unit within a single grain develops a separate overgrowth, the form of which is similarly controlled by the internal structure of the individual quartz units. Hence, the completed overgrowth shows an irregular distribution of diversely oriented prism and rhombohedral faces.

Notes: In a historical review of the development of quartz-grain morphoscopy some unsolved problems such as the real aspects of the details on frosted grain surfaces and the interpretation of the origin of different surface textures are elaborated. Discrepancies in the presentation of quartz-grain types as observed by electron microscopy are mentioned. It is proposed to relate such investigations to CAILLEUX's (1942) classical morphoscopic method; this could be facilitated by the modern scanning electron microscope. The possibilities and advantages of this instrument for morphoscopic research are presented by first results concerning the surface textures of original quartz grains derived from a weathered granite and of experimentally and naturally etched grain surfaces. For generalized conclusions a greater number of further observations must be made.

Notes: Principles of Lithogenesis, 2., N. M. STRAKHOV (English translation by J. PAUL FITZSIMMONS, edited by S. I. TOMKIEFF and J. S. HEMINGWAY). The New Concepts of Continental Margin Sedimentation-A.G.I. Short Course Lecture Notes, Philadelphia, 7–9 November, 1969. D. J. STANLEY (Convener); J. R. CURRAY, G. V. MIDDLETON, D. J. STANLEY, and D. J. P. SWIFT (Lecturers). Manual of Sedimentary Structures. C. E. B. CONYBEARE and K. A. W. CROOK. Methods for the Study of Sedimentary Structures. ARNOLD H. BOUMA.

Notes: A new apparatus, the “buret cylinder”, was constructed in order to increase the efficiency of the size analysis of fine-grained sediments. Its uncomplicated operation and automatic levelling enables working in series of ten samples or more at a time. This method, an improvement of the “pipet method”, works with an accuracy comparable to that of the “Atterberg method”.An ALGOL-program was compiled to compute all data, obtained from the granulometric analysis of the entire sediment. In the output, the numerical parameters are printed out and a simple frequency and a cumulative diagram is plotted. The computer program works for grain sizes from −6 phi (64 mm φ) to +9 phi (2 u φ). Two procedures can be applied alternatively: (a) sieving—buret analysis; and (b) sieving—visual accumulation tube—buret analysis.

Notes: The determination of the natural radioelements in suspended matter in rivers and estuaries, lead to a simple relation between gamma activity and turbidity T, such as Nt=aTb (Nt counting rate caused by turbidity, a and b experimental coefficients). A new turbidimetry method is based on this relation and discussed here. In situ measurements have been conducted with field gamma scintillometers and compared with different turbidimetry methods, such as nephelometry, gravi-metry and gamma ray absorptiometry. This method has been particularly convenient to continuous in situ measurements of turbidity from 0.5 g to several hundreds of g/1. This broad range is very well adapted to turbidity studies in estuaries.The new method has been applied to study suspended matter dynamics in the Gironde estuary (France) during November 1968, as a part of a more general study of natural radioactivity in terrigenous sediments brought into the ocean.

Notes: The angle of climb of ripples in cross-laminated deposits is governed by the simple relation:〈inlineGraphic alt="inline image" href="urn:x-wiley:00370746:SED5:SED_5_mu1" location="equation/SED_5_mu1.gif"/〉in which ζ is the angle of climb, M is the rate of sediment deposition normal to the rippled bed, H is the ripple height, and jb is the bedload sediment transport rate. After introducing sediment transport functions, this relation is developed using the assumptions of gradually varied flow to predict the spatial patterns of cross-lamination types in deposits due to pure non-uniform flow, pure unsteady flow, and simultaneous non-uniform and unsteady flow. Most of the predicted patterns can be matched from the geological record, and the analysis affords a hitherto missing insight into the environmental significance of climbing-ripple cross-lamination. The analysis also results in a rigorous definition of the kinds of environmental interpretation that may legitimately be made from examples of this structure.

Notes: Sphericity and roundness data of quartz grains (of varying size) of sieve fractions are empirically shown to be non-normally distributed. It is also demonstrated that log10 [ψ/(1−ψ)] and −log10(P) transformations, respectively, normalize the sphericity and roundness data, where ψ denotes the two-dimensional sphericity and P the roundness of the grains in a plane. Laboratory experiments on sampling quartz grains from a sieve fraction show that the cone-and-quartering method is preferable as it yields similar results to those of the more time-consuming random sampling procedure. Results of laboratory measurement errors on two-dimensional sphericity and roundness data are also presented. The frequency of sphericity and roundness data are noted on number basis.For all parametric statistical studies of sphericity and roundness the sample statistics should, therefore, be calculated according to the above normalizing log functions. Suitable grade scales of sphericity and roundness data are proposed here basing on these log functions and the total range and the minimum range of the variates (sphericity and roundness).

Notes: The combined use of size analysis and electron microscopy has indicated the presence of beach sands within the Lower Carboniferous Fell Sandstone of southeast Scotland and northern England.Environmental interpretations are based on a comparison of the statistical parameters summarizing the size distributions of the Fell Sandstone specimens with similar data from modern sediments. The spread of standard-deviation values (sorting coefficients) indicates the presence of littoral, alluvial, and possibly offshore marine environments within the Fell Sandstone. These environments are further defined by plotting standard deviation against skewness on a scatter diagram.Electron micrographs (E.M.G.'s) of the quartz grain surface textures of selected Fell Sandstone specimens corroborate the interpretations based on the size analysis.E.M.G.'s of the Fell Sandstone beach specimens show all the diagnostic surface features developed on modern quartz beach sand grains.

Notes: Initial results of investigation of the diagenesis of calcareous algae by electron microprobe are:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1A few conceptacles and other cavities in Recent algae specimens are partly to completely filled with younger carbonate. In contrast to the surrounding skeleton of about 10–20% mol MgCO3-calcite, these deposits are either very low (0–2%) or very high (15–50%) in MgCO3 content.2Highest magnesian values in Recent algae studied are thought to be in high-Mg calcites rather than in any other phase, with very few possible exceptions.3Calcian dolomite replacing fossil algae in cores from Eniwetok Atoll commonly has Ca-rich lenses resembling exsolution laminae.

Notes: Primary sedimentary structures in modern point bar deposits of the Amite River in Louisiana and the Colorado River in Texas are analogous to features observed in Eocene Simsboro and Pleistocene Colorado River deposits of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain.Short-duration peak flow, channel pattern, average stream gradient of about 2–3 ft./mile, and bank stabilization by dense vegetation are major parameters controlling the depositional pattern of coarse sand and pebble gravel of the Amite and Colorado rivers. Stratification is directly related to specific depositional features and consists of: large-scale trough-fill cross-stratification in the scour pool; trough-fill cross-stratification and foreset cross-stratification in the lower point bar; parallel laminae, large foreset cross-stratification, and trough-fill cross-stratification in the chute bar; parallel inclined laminae, climbing ripple laminae, and mud drapes in the chute fill; and parallel inclined laminae, mud drape, and foreset cross-stratification in overbank, flood-plain deposits.Fundamental differences between point bars of bed-load streams (low suspended load/bed load ratio) and mixed-load streams (high suspended load/bed load ratio) are that upper point bar sediments with small trough sets and parallel inclined laminae occur only in fine-grained (mixed load) fluvial deposits, and large scale foresets of chute bars are common to coarse-grained (bed load) fluvial deposits but are not found in fine-grained fluvial deposits. Upward fining sequences, characteristic of fine-grained fluvial deposits, are uncommon in sediments deposited by bed-load streams such as the Amite and Colorado rivers.The Simsboro Sandstone consists mainly of scour pool, lower point bar, and chute bar sediments. Chute fill and flood-plain deposits are preserved only in the highest stratigraphic sequence. Pleistocene Colorado River deposits display the same sequence of stratification types as the Simsboro but are composed of coarser material.

Notes: Litho- and Bio-Facies of Carbonate Sedimentary Rocks-a Symposium. T. MATSUMOTO (Editor). Coasts and Beaches. J. A. STEERS. La Sédimentation des Evaporites. Comparaison des données sahariennes á quelques théories, hypothèses et observations classiques ou nouvelles.—Mém. Museum Hist. Nat. (Paris) Ser.C, XIX (3). G. BUSSON.

Notes: Late Quaternary clays in Haifa Bay and Ashdod Harbour are overconsolidated by desiccation. This conclusion was reached through analysis of the pre-consolidation pressure as function of the actual overburden pressure, and by analogy with clays undergoing desiccation, and confirmed in laboratory experiments. It is in agreement with the known geology of the area.For pressures above 2.0 kg/cm2, a definite statistical relationship was established between the preconsolidation pressure and the in situ void ratio. For lower pressures, the in situ void ratio is mainly governed by environmental conditions during deposition and thought also to be governed by the clay mineralogy.