The signature output from FEI’s SEM-EDS
automated mineralogy technology is the creation of visually striking, spatially-resolved
mineral maps. Each pixel within an image is accurately assigned by the software
to a conventional mineral, or another application-specific phase. The colour
assigned to each mineral is fully flexible, and can be portrayed simply as one
of the 16,581,375 RGB computer colours, including grey scales. However, a
convention has been established since the original QEMSCAN developments at
CSIRO, which has been expanded and improved in the years since by Intellection
and FEI. This false colour scheme is affectionately referred to by those in the
know as the “Butcher Colour Scheme” after its inventor, Alan R. Butcher, whereby
certain key rock-forming silicates, carbonates, oxides, phosphates and
sulfates are colourized in a systematic way so as to allow easy and instant
visual recognition of minerals across a variety of application areas. As a
result, the images are rendered both scientifically informative and
aesthetically pleasing.
The most common minerals in
terrestrial rocks, especially those that make up the lithosphere, are the Feldspar and Silica Group minerals including quartz
and feldspar. It was therefore critical from the outset that the colours
chosen for these minerals were distinct and pleasing to the observer, as well
as practical from a communication perspective (projection and printing). In the subtractive CMYK colour model used
in colour printing, cyan and magenta are at opposite ends in addition
to yellow. Lighter shades of cyan and
magenta required to not overwhelm the viewer are more easily visible than a
lighter yellow. It is also well known
that pale magenta (pink) and cyan (turquoise) combinations are commonly used to great effect in various artistic and
design situations (such as in differentiating baby clothes, for example!), and it
was this concept that formed part of the inspiration for choosing light pink (or
now rose) for quartz, and various hues of cyan
for the end-members of the feldspar series.
The colour variations of cyan are also unique enough to be easily discriminated
from the primary colours blue and green of the additive RGB colour model.
The human eye can discriminate more
shades of green than variations of hue,saturation and value of any other colour, as can be witnessed by anyone observing
the subtleties of foliage in most natural landscapes. Not surprising,
therefore, green was chosen to
represent the most complex and variable ClayGroup of minerals, which to this day remain a challenge to accurately
differentiate because of their subtle compositions, habits and paragenesis. The one exception to this used to be the mineral
kaolinite, which by its very nature (relatively simple chemistry) is easily
discriminated, and as a result was designated a distinctive, bold colour (brown). In the redesign of the colour
scheme in more recent years, kaolinite was gradually incorporated into the
green colour space using the most distinct green.
The underlying reason for this move has been to free up brown colours to better discriminate the primary
sheet silicates of the micas.
The Mica Group of minerals can be identified easily down to the species
level, such that biotite and muscovite require their own unique colours. Initially, optical characteristics have been mimicked here. It is common practice
therefore to colour biotite a foxy-brown
(in recognition of its distinctive pleochroic behaviour when viewed in plane
polarized light); and muscovite a fluorescent
blue-purple (in acknowledgement of the high birefringence colours attained
in crossed polarized light). With the expansion of our ability to accurately
identify and differentiate micas including annite, phlogopite, muscovite, and
glauconite, it became necessary to expand the brown values from gold via ocher to bronze to
encompass the full group. Glauconite, now represented in olive, is closest to the greens of the clays, talc is highlighted in
golden, and the dark biotites are depicted
in ocher.
The Carbonate Group presents
yet another challenge to the spatial mineralogy data analyst. At first sight,
it could be argued that as calcite
and dolomite are only found in trace
amounts in most common metallic ores (limestone-hosted deposits excepted), the
choice of colour may not be worth worrying too much about (unless acid leaching
was the preferred mineral processing method), and therefore a simple scale of
greys could be used to represent these two minerals. However, the importance of
differentiating carbonates becomes critical when examining biochemical and
chemical sedimentary rocks (such as limestones), especially of the type found
in commercially important geological situations (sub-surface Middle Eastern
reservoirs!). And so it was found necessary to select colours that looked both
visually appealing when present in large amounts, and yet contrasted nicely
(rather than clashed) with silicates, sulfides and oxides, when present. It
was found that shades of lilac-purple
work best to represent calcite, in
combination with a dark navy blue for
dolomite. In recent years, the increasing interest in
accurately mapping the subtle chemical variations of carbonate reservoir rocks
has expanded on the traditional blue hues of carbonates. Today, pure calcite is
depicted in a pale blue (somewhat similarly to the pale red (rose) for quartz), creating a visually
striking way to discriminate the two dominant oil and gas reservoir rock types.
In carbonates, there are arguably three cation variations of particular
interest; magnesium, iron, and manganese. The revised colour scheme now adds the
dark blue ultramarine with increasing
Mg content, in keeping with the traditional navy
blue of dolomite. Iron in contrast adds a red hue, resulting in the dark indigo of siderite, whereas Mn adds a green
hue resulting in the azure of
kutnohorite.
Minerals which are visible to SEM-EDS
techniques but remain frustratingly opaque in transmitted polarized optical
light (such as all cubic minerals) required a different approach. One of these
is pyrite, a very common (yet easily
identifiable) accessory phase in many different types of rock and ore. It
rarely forms monomineralic aggregates, instead preferring to form dispersed grains
or framboids in mudrocks, shale, polymetallic ores, and igneous & metamorphicrocks. The colour assigned to pyrite
therefore had to be one that was visible when present in small amounts, yet would
contrast nicely with rock-forming silicates. After much experimentation, yellow as the third and remaining
primary colour of the CMYK colour model was chosen for pyrite. This has not only fulfilled the above criteria, but has
since chimed with geologists because of the fact that iron sulfides (at least
when fresh) are characteristically yellow when viewed in hand specimen. By similar reasoning, chromite, another common accessory in many basic igneous rocks, has
been often assigned the colour black (now
maroon); and Iron Oxides (hematite, magnetite, goethite, limonite), where
possible, are given various shades of brown
colouration.
Other accessory or Ultra-trace
Minerals needed to be visualized and highlighted, especially within large,
textually busy images. Bright primary colours have been found to work best in
these situations. Zircon, for
example, can be seen easily if coloured a hot pink (magenta), apatite can be
nicely discriminated from rose quartz if coloured crimson; and rutile
tends to stand out from all other minerals if made into red. This leaves the purple to eggplant
colours for the Sulfates (gypsum/anhydrite,
barite). The Halides are coloured in
violet to plum.
With the advent of automated mineralogy
crossing over into the Geoscience world, more colours were required to
represent common igneous and metamorphic minerals, over and above those already
described. By this stage, our options were running out. However, olivine, by its very name, lends itself
nicely to a olive colour; and seems
to contrast well if used in combination with pale greens or browns to represent commonly associated minerals (pyroxenes and amphiboles), and pale purples for alteration phases (serpentinite, for example). Today,
pyroxenes, amphiboles and the olivine group occupy a separate colour space of
distinct grey-greens. The garnets
look compelling if their colours in hand specimen (purples and reds) are
somehow translated appropriately into the digital images. Today, the garnets
occupy the distinct range between light
salmon and dark/brown salmon.
Traditionally, not much thought has
been given to discriminate rock-forming minerals from porosity, organic matter,
and unclassified spectra. With the
recent focus of automated mineralogy on oil and gas applications, visually
discriminating these phases are of primary importance. Fortunately, the greyscale
values ranging from white to black have not been used consistently in the past.
It is here suggested to use white to
highlight pores, silver to contrast
pores from organic matter, and black
to show those pixels that could not be accurately identified and require
additional work to be classified.
History and experience has shown
that detailed studies on application-specific samples such as meteorites,
volcanic dust, or heavy mineral concentrates, require that the above scheme may
not always work. In these cases, it is not uncommon that minerals of low
interest are represented simply by shades of grey, whilst those of most
interest are given primary colours (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow),
which produces maximum contrast and the best visual impact. Finally, if all of
the above is not to one’s liking, users can always choose their own customized scheme
(again, impact is maximized if consistent colours are used across all samples).
Certain colour schemes have even been created which are totally unique to a
single sample, such as those where the images are used purely for artistic
projects. However, in the interest of promoting automated mineralogy as an
analytical technique coming of age, it will be beneficial if a standard set of
colour-mineral associations is used by the wider community to facilitate peer
review and communication of spatial mineralogy data. It is promising to see that most oil companies are applying the above colour scheme by and large within their R&D labs, and that the new generation of service providers specializing on spatial mineralogy data, analysis and interpretation - such as Rocktype Ltd - are promoting it as the industry standard.
As a final note it should
be emphasized that this colour scheme for minerals will be - by its very nature - different to those used for mapping elements and lithology (rock-typing), where
for example sandstone as a lithology is commonly depicted in yellow.
Dr Alan R Butcher
Principal Petrologist, FEI UK
Dr David Haberlah
Product Manager, FEI Australia
