Review of the Methods of Grain-size Analysis of Sediments and its Computer Applications

The present study is a review of the methods for grain-size analysis in clastic sediments, and some problems by the sieving and pipette methods are discussed. The problems of the sieving method are in the accuracy of the mesh opening, the length of working time and the kind of sediments. To maintain correct sieving, about 20 minutes is required for the working time. But, in some sediments with abundant organic calcareous fragments that were broken down for a long time, the sieving time should be kept within 20 minutes. The pipette method is good for the analysis of muddy sediments, but it requires much labor, takes a long time, and is apt to be affected by the temperature of the fluid and the heterogeneity of the particles in the fluid. By the application of the FORTRAN computer program, the authors hope to undertake further comparative studies of grain-size analysis