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Improving grain size analysis using computer vision techniques and implications for grain growth kinetics

  • Isra S. Ezad , Joshua F. Einsle , David P. Dobson , Simon A. Hunt ORCID logo , Andrew R. Thomson and John P. Brodholt
Published/Copyright: January 26, 2022
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 107 Issue 2

Abstract

Earth’s physical properties and mantle dynamics are strongly dependent on mantle grain size, shape, and orientation, but these characteristics are poorly constrained. Experimental studies provide an opportunity to simulate the grain growth kinetics of mantle aggregates. The experimentally determined grain sizes can be fit to the normal grain growth law (Gn – Gn0) = k0t∙exp(–ΔH/RT) and then be used to determine grain size throughout the mantle and geological time. The grain growth dynamics of spinel-orthopyroxene mixtures in the upper mantle are modeled here by experimentally producing small grain sizes in the range of 0.5 to 2 μm radius at pressures and temperatures equivalent to the spinel lherzolite stability field. To accurately measure the sizes of these small grains, we have developed a computer vision workflow; using a watershed transformation, which rapidly measures 68% more grains and produces a 20% improvement in the average grain size accuracy and repeatability when compared with manual methods. Using this automated approach, we have been able to identify a significant proportion of small grains, which have been overlooked when using manual methods. This additional population of grains, when fit to the normal grain growth law, highlights the influence of improved accuracy and sample size on the estimation of grain growth kinetic parameters. Our results demonstrate that automatic computer vision enables a systematic, fast, repeatable method of grain size analysis, across large data sets, improving the accuracy of experimentally determined grain growth kinetics.

Keywords: Grain growth kinetics; advanced image processing; watershed algorithm; grain size analyses

Funding statement: This work was part of ISE’s NERC-funded Ph.D. (award NE/M00046X/1 to J.B. and D.D.). J.F.E. acknowledges funding under ERC Advanced Grant 320750-Nanopaleomagnetism.

Acknowledgments

We thank James Davy for assistance with SEM imaging at UCL and Duncan Muir for imaging at Cardiff University. The “inexpert investigators” were third-year undergraduate students at UCL (GEOL0039; 2018-19 cohort). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped improve this manuscript, and Bin Chen for his editorial handling.

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Received: 2020-09-08
Accepted: 2021-01-14
Published Online: 2022-01-26
Published in Print: 2022-02-23

© 2022 Mineralogical Society of America

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2021-7797
Keywords for this article
Grain growth kinetics; advanced image processing; watershed algorithm; grain size analyses

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Alumino-oxy-rossmanite from pegmatites in Variscan metamorphic rocks from Eibenstein an der Thaya, Lower Austria, Austria: A new tourmaline that represents the most Al-rich end-member composition
  2. Fluorine partitioning between quadrilateral clinopyroxenes and melt
  3. Multi-stage magma evolution recorded by apatite and zircon of adakite-like rocks: A case study from the Shatanjiao intrusion, Tongling region, Eastern China
  4. The physical and chemical evolution of magmatic fluids in near-solidus silicic magma reservoirs: Implications for the formation of pegmatites
  5. Texture, geochemistry, and geochronology of titanite and pyrite: Fingerprint of magmatic-hydrothermal fertile fluids in the Jiaodong Au province
  6. Polytypism in semi-disordered lizardite and amesite by low-dose HAADF-STEM
  7. Peralkalinity in peraluminous granitic pegmatites. I. Evidence from whewellite and hydrogen carbonate in fluid inclusions
  8. Peralkalinity in peraluminous granitic pegmatites. II. Evidence from experiments on carbonate formation in spodumene-bearing assemblages
  9. Ab initio study of structural, elastic and thermodynamic properties of Fe3S at high pressure: Implications for planetary cores
  10. Removal of barite from zircon using an aqueous solution of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid and potassium carbonate
  11. Improving grain size analysis using computer vision techniques and implications for grain growth kinetics
  12. Crystal chemistry of arsenian pyrites: A Raman spectroscopic study
  13. Formation of the Maoniuping giant REE deposit: Constraints from mineralogy and in situ bastnäsite U-Pb geochronology
  14. Amphibole as a witness of chromitite formation and fluid metasomatism in ophiolites
  15. Ferro-papikeite, ideally NaFe2 2+(Fe32+Al2)(Si5Al3)O22(OH)2, a new orthorhombic amphibole from Nordmark (Western Bergslagen), Sweden: Description and crystal structure
  16. Letter
  17. HP-PdF2-type FeCl2 as a potential Cl-carrier in the deep Earth
  18. New Mineral Names: Alteration Products
  19. American Mineralogist thanks the 2021 reviewers
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