The photo-sieving method enables the grain-size analysis of particles > 10 mm from unconsolidated openwork bedding surfaces. The accuracy is equal to the machine-sieving method. The sediment surface is photographed in the field using a camera stand. The enlarged print is digitized for computer processing by tracing the outlines of the pebbles. From the size and shape of the projection area of the individual pebble images the computer determines the ellipsoids of revolution, classifies these ellipsoids, and establishes their grain-size distribution in percentage by weight. Thus photo-sieving differs distinctly from pointcounting techniques. With the aid of photo-sieving, the surface grain-size distributions of larger sedimentary systems may be regularly mapped. Alluvial fans, braided rivers, both onshore and offshore coasts or areas of relict sediments and manganese nodules are suitable for this method.

Numerous methods for roundness measurement have been developed. None, however, has been generally accepted, because of conceptual and practical deficiencies. Modern image processing and Fourier grain shape analysis have eliminated the practical shortcomings, but the conceptual ones remained. Single, higher harmonics of the Fourier series, for example, fail to serve as reliable equivalents for roundness evaluation. The concept outlined in this paper recognizes three criteria for the evaluation of roundness. (1) All curvatures, convex as well as concave or plane elements, must be considered. (2) The positions of morphological elements are significant because salient parts of a particle are more easily abraded than protected ones. Consequently, the curvatures have to be weighted by their relative position on the particle. (3) Positions and curvatures of morphological elements have to be compared with the particle's ultimate abraded shape, which is assumed to be an ellipsoid. The ellipsoid reflects the aspect of form or sphericity. The distinction between sphericity and roundness is retained because there is no evidence that sphericity changes significantly during transport. The measurement is based on the outline of a particle's maximum projection plane, which is transformed to a Fourier series. Roundness data are derived from the complete amplitude spectrum. The aspect of sphericity is eliminated by subtracting the amplitude spectrum of the best approximating ellipse from the spectrum of the empirical shape. The residual amplitudes are normalized and summed. In a final step the resulting values are rescaled. This guarantees reasonable boundaries and a normal distribution of roundness values. The procedure is automated and its efficiency permits the calculation of large samples. Tests on fluvial and coastal gravel populations demonstrate that the method is sensitive to abrasional wear during all stages of roundness.

We applied new granulometric techniques to the various surfaces of the Hanaupah Fan, Death Valley, California, namely the Q1 surface, with an estimated age of 800-490 ka, the younger Q2 (170-105 ka) and Q3 (50-14 ka) surfaces, the <14 ka deposits of the incised channel, and to a (c. 14 ka) Lake Manly shoreline deposit at the northern periphery of the fan. We used these techniques to generate quantitative information on surface clast grain-size distributions, clast sphericity, roundness, and clast orientation to provide a data set that could be used to define fan-segment surfaces, and to help interpret fan genesis. Grain-size analyses were carried out by photo-sieving of 139 surface pictures, by petrographic identification of samples taken in the incised channel, and by identification and measuring of the largest clasts (1452 measurements) on the Q3 surface. The results show that all fan-segment surfaces, regardless of age, have similar size distributions, with a well-defined gravel mode of −2·3 to −3·0 phi, and are poorly to moderately sorted. Samples from the incised channel have distributions that are very similar to each other, regardless of distance from the apex, but display reduced sorting compared to the fan surfaces (which largely lack fines, perhaps from winnowing by secondary overland flow). Only the shoreline deposit is different from the other elements, showing a much narrower, well-defined gravel mode (−3·0 phi), and is moderately well sorted. Sphericity and roundness of clasts on all surfaces show only minor differences, similar to the other sedimentary parameters, indicating a remarkable homogeneity of the surfaces of the sediment body. In addition, measurements of the largest clasts (>100 cm long axis) on the Q3 surface showed no discernible trend either with radial distance or with rock type. These data suggest large depositional episodes that produce extensive sedimentary units without differentiation relative to distance from the source. Of the examined parameters, clast orientation is the best predictor of relative age of fan surfaces. Clast orientation in the main channel is bimodal, i.e. the long axes of clasts are either at right angles or parallel to transport direction. This bimodality disappears with increasing age, and the preferred orientation becomes unimodal (long clast axes normal to transport direction) on the Q1 surface. Although the causes of this change are still in debate, use of this parameter as a relative-age dating tool seems possible.

Cover picture: Calabrian Massif and Ionian Shelf. The scenery is topped by Mt. Scorda, 1572 m, 17 km from the coast. The Buonamico and Careri river basins feed the submarine canyon which reaches a depth of 750 m in the foreground, 8.5 km off the coast.

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