Determination of the shape of crystals of the rock-forming minerals from the Monchepluton intrusion (NE Fennoscandia) using automatic calculation of fractal dimensions
The paper aims at applying the fractal dimension estimation method to the investigations of minerals and influence of secondary processes on their shapes. For this purpose, 38 samples of rock-forming minerals from the Monchepluton, a Paleoproterozoic PGE-bearing layered intrusion that occurs in the NE Fennoscandia, were analyzed. The samples primarily underwent a petrographic analysis using polarization microscopy for a correct interpretation of rocks. Further, the fractal-box dimension was measured by means of an automated calculation technique applied for the sides of a grid which was superimposed on a micrograph with a microscopic image of a mineral. The derived fractal dimension coefficients were correlated with the shape of the examined minerals in the rocks.