Characterization and comparison of pore distribution in weathered volcanic rocks by different techniques

Higgins (2000) have applied stereology to quantify textural aspects of igneous rocks (e.g. crystals sizes and distribution) by processing a sequence of thin-section images. We followed a simpler approach proposed by Farmer et al. (1991) to compute the 3D porosity by 2D shapes by applying the two relationships: V = Ab and V = [A(a + b)/2] where A is pore area, a and b are the major and minor axes, respectively. Because of the subspherical geometry a and b are similar and the results of the two results are comparable.