An X-ray diffraction technique has been used to determine the orientation pattern of the (001) planes of 10 A micaceous minerals in slate. The guiding principle of this technique is the direct measurement of the diffracted radiation from the pre-selected family of crystallographic planes as a function of the orientation of the specimen.Results obtained indicated that the basal planes of these minerals are mostly oriented in a direction parallel to the cleavage planes and the possibility of another orientation was considered to be slight.Laboratory petrofabric analyses are usually undertaken by means of the polarizing microscope equipped with a universal stage. However, for fine-grained rocks (beyond the microscopic range) optical methods are inadequate. Very fine-grained rocks can be analysed petrofabrically by X-ray diffraction techniques. However, these techniques are restricted to a basic investigation of relevant crystallographic orientations and are based on the fundamental concepts of X-ray diffraction. The intensity of the diffracted beam can be recorded either on a photographic film or on a chart recorder operated from the output of the detector.Advances in X-ray diffractometry techniques helped in improving orientation studies especially in the metallographic field and for natural and synthetic fibres. The only available information, as far as the author is aware, on the use of the diffractometry or spectrometry techniques for orientation studies of a certain crystal planes in a rock were reported by Bates (1947), Silverman & Bates (1960), Higgs, Friedman & Gebhart (1960), Gehlen (1960) and Fayed~(1966.
EXPERIMENTAL METHODThe textural goniometer used was the Philips texture attachment ( Fig. la and b) which is developed for the qualitative and quantitative analyses of the texture of several materials particularly metals. It is based on Schulz's principle (Schulz, 1949a, b) and is used in conjunction with a wide range goniometer, a proportional G
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