Quartz surface microtextures and grain-size characteristics of Quaternary sediments in the Porcupine Strand area of coastal Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada

Sand-sized quartz grains from five Quaternary environments were examined by SEM. Surface textural characteristics defined in previous literature were noted and counted systematically. Multivariate statistical analysis of the data shows that certain texture groups allow significant environmental identification, but no single surface texture is unique to any one environment. Absolute recognition of a particular environment from the presence of 'diagenetic' features on several grains is not recommended for areas such as this. Yet the statistical pattern of scores for some features results in a position of individual samples and groups similar to the patterns obtained from the analysis of grain-size distribution data. The glacial environment appears to be no harder to define than most others in this type of analysis. -P.Br.