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Water Resources Applications Software

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Summary of SEDSIZE


NAME
       sedsize - Particle-size statistics of fluvial sediments

ABSTRACT
       SEDSIZE computes Inman, Trask, and Folk statistical parameters based
       on phi values and sizes determined for the percent-finer values of
       5, 16, 25, 35, 50, 65, 75, 84, 90, and 95 from up to 33 input
       particle-size, and percent-finer data pairs.  The program also
       determines the percentages of gravel, sand, silt, and clay, and the
       Meyer-Peter effective diameter.

METHOD
       Various investigators have developed sets of statistical measures to
       quantify certain features of fluvial particle-size distributions.
       These values can then be used for comparisons between samples and
       other analytical purposes.  These statistics are based on the sizes
       of particles for which certain percentages of the sample are either
       finer or coarser.  Trask (1932) describes the particle-size
       distribution using a length (millimeter) dimensional notation;
       whereas, Inman (1952) and Folk (1968) use a dimensionless phi
       notation developed by Krumbein (1936).  The program determines the
       values required by each method using linear interpolation and
       extrapolation.

HISTORY
       Version 1.9 1997/06/02 - Fixed problem with end of file check on
          read of direct access files.

       Version 1.8 1995/08/11 - Code clean-up, prompts in mixed case

       Version 1.4 1994/10/26 - Fortran version as ported to UNIX
          workstations

       1986 - first release -- Fortran version for use on Prime computers
          and a BASIC version for use on personal computers

DATA REQUIREMENTS
       Size-distribution data are entered using the interactive program
       SIZEDATA.  Each distribution (data set) consists of a station
       description (up to 80 characters), date of sample, time of sample,
       number of particle diameter sizes (up to 33), the diameter sizes in
       millimeters, and the percent-finer value for each size.  Percent-
       finer values of 0 are ignored by the program.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
       SEDSIZE is written in Fortran 77 with the following extension:  use
       of variable names longer than six characters.  Generally, the
       program is easily installed on most computer systems.  The code has
       been used on UNIX-based computers and DOS-based 386 or greater
       computers having a math coprocessor and 1 mb of memory.

DOCUMENTATION
       Stevens, H.H., and Hubbell, D.W., 1986, Computer programs for
          computing particle-size statistics of fluvial sediments: U.S.
          Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 86-4141,
          72 p.

REFERENCES
       Folk, R.L., 1968, Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks:  Austin, Hemphill
          Publishing Co., p. 44-50.

       Inman, D.L., 1952, Measures for describing the size distribution of
          sediments:  Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 22, no. 3, p.
          125-245.

       Krumbein, W.C., 1936, Application of logarithmic moments to size
          frequency distribution of sediments:  Journal of Sedimentary
          Petrology, v. 6, no. 1, p. 35-47.

       Trask, P.D., 1932, Origin and environment of source sediments of
          petroleum: Houston, Gulf Publishing Co., 323 p.

CONTACTS
       Operation and Distribution:
          U.S. Geological Survey
          Hydrologic Analysis Software Support Program
          437 National Center
          Reston, VA 20192

          h2osoft@usgs.gov

       Official versions of U.S. Geological Survey water-resources analysis
       software are available for electronic retrieval via the World Wide
       Web (WWW) at:

                  http://water.usgs.gov/software/

       and via anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP) from:

                  water.usgs.gov (path: /pub/software).

       The WWW page and anonymous FTP directory from which the SEDSIZE
       software can be retrieved are, respectively:

                  http://water.usgs.gov/software/sedsize.html
                                --and--
                  /pub/software/surface_water/sedsize

SEE ALSO
       sizedata(1) - Data entry program for sedsize

The URL for this page is: http://water.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/man_wrdapp?sedsize
Send questions or comments to h2osoft@usgs.gov