A review on domestic and international studies for surface microtextures of quartz grains

초록

Surface microtextures of quartz grains (SMQ) provide one of the few direct sources of information for reconstructing the transport history of individual sediment grains. Since their introduction in the early 1960s, SMQ studies have been actively conducted, initially focusing on qualitative, morphology-based descriptions, but later advancing through laboratory simulation experiments and statistical analyses, and more recently applying artificial intelligence based automated classification methods. Through these developments, the application of SMQ has expanded beyond sedimentological studies to diverse fields such as forensic science and planetary geology, accompanied by the increasing use of high-resolution analytical instruments beyond scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, research results from modern depositional environments including soils, fluvial, coastal, aeolian, and glacial settings have been widely applied to the paleoenvironmental interpretation of unknown samples. Considering that systematic SMQ research in Korea is still at an early stage, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical background, methodological developments, and domestic and international case studies of SMQ. In particular, this paper synthesizes SMQ characteristics across various depositional environments to highlight current limitations and suggest potential directions for future development.

키워드