Breakage of quartz sand particles controlled by internal defects: model glacier

studies
Ken OHara-Dhand1, Sue Mclaren1, Matthew Frost2, Ian Smalley1 Stephen P.Bentley3

1 Giotto Loess Research Group, Geography Department, Leicester University,

Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
2 School of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough
Leicestershire LE11 3TU
3

School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF2 3AA, Wales UK

Corresponding author (kod2@le.ac.uk)

Abstract
Quartz silt may be produced by comminution of sand particles by glacial action.
Described are the results of a series of laboratory based glacial grinding experiments
designed to investigate this contention. They were designed and carried out in order to
gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of the breakage of quartz in nature. In
all 40 grinding experiments were conducted for different grinding times and loads. The
results suggest that there might be internal controls operating in natural quartz particles
which affect the size distribution and nature of the disintegration products. There could
be explanations for the predominance of sand and silt- an essentially bimodal clastic
universe. The deformation machine used (the Janet Wright glacier machine) has some
of the attributes of a glacier but is a very simple simulation. The results from earlier
experiments left a number of questions unanswered. These are:
1 what effect does the grinding ring profile have on the results and how well does it
match glacial grinding in practice. For this purpose a new set of grinding rings were
designed to further investigate this and
2

one special ring made which was totally different to the other 3.

These remaining questions are addressed in these experiments. The same material
was used as in the earlier experiments namely 2mm washed and sieved Leighton
Buzzard sand. The apparatus used for all experiments was a Bromhead ring shear
machine; this was adapted and adjusted for these experiments(and renamed a Janet
Wright glacier machine). The results obtained appear to show that the breakage
mechanism in glacial grinding is very complex and that most of the interesting
phenomena takes place in the first 25% of the grinding process. However, there are still
some important longer term events that relate more to the grinding of the finer material.
1

The parameters used in the grinding were based on calculations of the height and
movements of glaciers from a number of world locations. These were necessary in
order to determine the scaling factors for the new experiments.
Key words: Glacial grinding, Bromhead Ring shear, Janet Wright glacier machine,
internal structures controlling quartz particle breakage, Leighton Buzzard Sand, silt
formation

Introduction
A typical sand grain is a quartz particle with a diameter of around 500um (the official
ISO 14688-1 range is 2 mm-63 m). Quartz sand is derived largely from igneous crustal
rocks, usually granites of which the quartz content is typically 70% (Smalley 1966). In
these parent rocks two events occur which determine the nature of the sand grains. A
eutectic-type reaction delivers quartz as relatively small units distributed throughout the
rock. This quartz is formed as high quartz and as the system cools turns into low
quartz. The low quartz crystal structure is slightly more compact than the high quartz
(caused by a change in bond angle at the oxygen atoms) so a significant tensile stress
develops in the rock system. These two factors appear to determine the nature of
quartz silt (Smalley & Vita-Finzi 2011). The eutectic reaction delivers a certain size
range, it is an effective size control, and within this limited range of size a certain level
of internal stress develops. This range of stress causes a certain range of internal
deformation and controls defect formation in the eutectic quartz.
This simple two stage mechanism indicates that there might be a basic bimodal size
distribution of clastic quartz particles: some unbroken sand particles and broken
particles controlled by defect concentration and spacing: However, for sand and siltthere are two possibly distinct populations, sand for beaches and deserts, silt for loess.
Quartz sand deformation has been carried out using a modified Bromhead ring-shear
machine. Wright (1995) proposed the use of this machine as a simple model glacier; it
delivers a shear stress to the sample and the speed of deformation and the deforming
stress can be accurately controlled. It appears to make a very convenient and
reasonably realistic model glacier.
Some previous tests have shown that interesting size distributions can be obtained. We
have used the Wright glacier machine on 25g samples of carefully sieved and washed
Leighton Buzzard sand. With improved instrumentation it is possible to follow the
progress of a breakage test via measurements of vertical movements in the
deformation zone, see figure 1. Particles are crushed and the system compacts.
The particle size analysis for figure 1 is shown in figure 2 which corresponds to a typical
loess distribution
We propose that stage 3 is simply the activation of major cracks; stage 4 is the critical
deformation region where silt making occurs- and this region shows the greatest
vertical movement.
2

There is not a continuous or even range of particle sizes. In addition there are natural
controls on particle production and particle size. The essential sand production
mechanism seems fairly straightforward (Smalley 1966) but there has been less
success in establishing the silt mode. It appears that the eutectic-type reactions in the
source granitic rocks establish the first particle size control; there latent sand grains are
stressed by the high-low quartz transition which produces the so-called Moss defects
(Moss 1966). The eutectic size is more or less fixed (by the reaction) and the stress
levels are more or less fixed by (by the size of the proto-particle) thus a certain,
definable range of silt particles is produced by subsequent breakage. Silt range is
defined as 2m-63m, but we detect a mode at around 30 - 40m. The major silt
forming defects cause the breakage shown by lines 3 & 4 in fig.1. We propose that line
1 is simply settling, the sand grains fill the sample container; line 2 is dilatant expansion
(the same sort of dilatant expansion required by Smalley & Unwin (1968) in glacial till
for drumlin forming purposes); line 3 is initial breakake, caused by a few major cracks;
line 4 is a critical region- the Mosds defects are activated and real silt formation begins;
line 5 the system is filling with detritus but a bit more deformation occurs as the system
now moves towards the comminution limit.

2
3

5
1

Fig.1 Vertical displacement plotted against time, and the changing gradients indicate changes in the style
of deformation.

There is a wide range of sizes of clastic particles in crustal materials but there does
appear to be some basic modalities. There is a sand mode, and there is a silt mode.
Bimodality has been produced in earlier experiments (Smalley 1963, Smalley & Rogers
1994) but these were uniaxial compression tests and the product interfered with the
process. In the Wright glacier machine the process continues and a more realistic end
product is reached.
3

Results
The particle size analysis for figure 1 is shown in figure 2 which shows evidence of
peaks at 2 - 3, 20 and 40m as shown by the arrows. Similar profiles has been
observed from a location in south east Kazakhstan, see figure 3 and also from the
Ruma brickyard near to Novi Sad in Serbia, see fig4. In particular note the peaks in
similar positions to those in figure 2 with one additional peak at around 0.2 m. The
reason for these double peaks is not yet fully understood and is currently under
investigation
Figure 5 shows the results of a run with a 36 slot ring and 24 hour grinding time, to be
noted and increase by a factor of three in the number of slots and a grinding time of 24
hours. The particle size distribution for this run is shown in figure 6 which clearly shows
with the increased number of slots and grinding time the material is now well into the
silt region with an increased volume %. This is to be expected and can be assigned to
lines 5 and 6 on figure 5 and takes place over the period 10 24 hrs.

Fig.2 particle size analysis of the results in figure 1 clearly indicating three particle size modes
are produced. Evidence of peaks at 40, 25 and 2.5m

Figure 3 Particle size analysis of young loess from Remisowka SE Kazakhstan. After Machalett

Figure 4 Particle size distribution from the Ruma brickyard. Maximum ultrasonic agitation
applied. Note the additional peak at 0.2m

1
2

3
4

Figure 5 Vertical displacement plotted against time for the 36 slot ring. The changing gradients
indicate changes in the style of deformation.

Figure 6 Particle size analysis of the results in figure 5. Note here the shift of the particle range
into the fine silt region

1
4

5
2
2

4
6

Figure 7

Results for variable 12 slot grinding ring.

Figure 8 Particle size analysis of the results in figure 7. Note here there is a further shift of the
particle range into the silt region compared to figure 6

2
3
4

Figure 9 Six hour run using the variable 12 slot rings again clearly showing well defined stages
in the grinding process.

Figure 10 Particle size analysis of the results in figure 9. Note the shift of the particle size range from
coarse sand towards the fine sand range.

Figure 5 is a good example of the breakage sequence and suggests a series of actions.
Here we propose that line 1 is dilatancy ; line 2 is initial crack activity; line 3 is major silt
production; line 4 shows activity after most of the defects have been activated and
utilized; lines 5, 6 and 7 are post-defect activity leading to the comminution limit at 1-2
um. Fig.6 and fig.8 show the results of very long term grinding; this would be very
intense glacial activity leading to a very small product(and not often encountered). We
suggest that a lot of natural activity occurs around the line 3 zone and results in the
3oum silt which makes estuaries and loess deposits.
Fig 10 clearly shows that modest grinding can leave sand remaining. However, the
main peak is seen to be at 85 micro-metres rapidly falling to 200 micro-metres with
evidence of a small amount of material below 100 200 micro-metres. This process is
seen to take place over the period of slopes 1, 2, as seen in figure 9. This is classified
as the sand production stage. This 6 hr run compares very well with fig 7 which was
with the same grinding rings but over 24 hrs

Description of apparatus and method

The main component of the glacial grinding apparatus is the Bromhead Ring Shear
machine/ Janet Wright glacier machine shown below in figure 9. A detailed view of the
grinding chamber is shown in figure 10. The vertical displacement transducer can be
seen to the right near to the top of the figure. The two horizontal stress rings can be
seen to the left and right of the apparatus equally spaced either side of the vertical
displacement system.

Figure 11 Overall view of the Bromhead Ring Shear

The Bromhead grinding chamber is shown in more detail in figure 11

A pair of grinding rings fit into the upper and lower sections of the grinding chamber.
The lower chamber is set to rotate at a range of speeds determined by the setting of
two gears, the range of possible speed are given in table 1. For all of these
experiments a grinding chamber rotational speed of 60 per minute was chosen which
is the maximum possible, see table 1. In addition a constant grinding load of 30 kg was
used for all experiments with all specimens e ground wet to simulate the grinding
process at the bedrock base of a real glacier.
In figure 9 the upper platen rotates and the upper one is constrained by two horizontal
proving rings with dial gauges and two linear variable differential transducers which
measure the forces during its operation.
The vertical displacement is measured by
a vertically mounted (lvdt) with a
resolution of 10 m. This proved to be
extremely valuable when analysing the
grinding data, Shown also is the space in
which the grinding material was placed

10

Figure 12. Detailed view of the Bromhead grinding chamber

.
Table 1. Gear setting for turret rotational speeds

Gear lever
Position
A
B
C
D
E

Bromhead Turret rotation setting. Deg/Min

Gear settings
LHS RHS LHS RHS LHS RHS LHS RHS
60
30
54
36
45
45
36
54
60
45
30
20
12
9.0
6.0
4.0
2.40
1.8
1.20
0.80
0.480
0.36
0.24
0.160
0.096
0.072
0.048
0.032

LHS
30

RHS
60
15
3.0
0.6
0.12
0.024

Details
of

grinding rings
.The grinding ring shown in figure 12 has 36 slots of width 1mm and depth 0.6mm, the
material used is M3 stainless steel.
The remaining three grinding rings have 12 and 24 slots of the same width and depth
and one with 12 variable 75
width
mm slots with the same depth with spacing of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and 6 mm. Theses slots were all equally spaced in the same manner as in figure 12.
The reason for this was to determine the effect of different size slots on the grinding
process.

11
100 mm

Figure 13 36 slot grinding ring (one of a pair).

For reference the ISO ranges of particle sizes are shown in figure 6. From inspection of
this table it can be seen that the starting material for these experiments is classified as
coarse sand.
Table 2 List of ISO14688-1 particle sizes
ISO 14688-1
name
Large boulder, LBo
Very coarse soil Boulder, Bo
Cobble, Co
Coarse gravel,
Grav CGr
el
Medium gravel, MGr
Fine gravel, FGr
Coarse soil
Coarse sand, CSa
Sand Medium sand, MSa
Fine sand, FSa
Coarse silt, CSi
Medium silt, MSi
Silt
Fine soil
Fine silt, FSi
Clay, Cl

size range
>630 mm
>200 630 mm
>63 200 mm
>20 63 mm
>6.3 20 mm
>2.0 - 6.3 mm
>0.63 - 2.0 mm
>0.2 - 0.63 mm
>0.063 - 0.2 mm
>0.02 - 0.063 mm
>0.0063 - 0.02 mm
>0.002 - 0.0063
mm
0.002 mm

Grinding procedure

12

As all previous grinding experiments had been conducted with washed and sieved
Leighton Buzzard sand, the same material was used in these new experiments. The
amount of sand used is 25 g and is carefully placed in the lower platen (grinding
chamber), see figure 9. The lower platen is then placed in the Bromhead apparatus and
is held in position by two retaining screws. The top grinding platen is then carefully
placed on top of this. The desired speed of rotation is the set by the adjustment of two
gears, see table 1.
A set of tables was designed to in order to determine the forces acting at the base of a
glacier. The calculations were from a maximum depth of 3km down to 1m in steps of 1
metre. However, the maximum load that could be was 35kg, this represents 3kg on the
Bromhead weight hanger, which has a lever system with a magnification factor of 10. In
order not to run the apparatus at maximum load, and risk problems, a lower value of 30
kg was chosen. Table 3 is a section of the more complete table
Table 3 Glacial depths and forces on the base
Height
Force on the base of the glacier
m
kg
N
kN
10
8480.0
83188.80
83.19
9
7632.0
74869.92
74.87
8
6784.0
66551.04
66.55
7
5936.0
58232.16
58.23
6
5088.0
49913.28
49.91
5
4240.0
41594.40
41.59
4
3392.0
33275.52
33.28
3
2544.0
24956.64
24.96
2
1696.0
16637.76
16.64
1
848.0
8318.88
8.32

Force on ring surface

kg
33.92
30.53
27.14
23.74
20.35
16.96
13.57
10.18
6.78
3.39

Table 4 Data of a number of glaciers

GLACIER
ALETSCH
TUYUKSU
ATHABASCA
ATHABASCA
BLUE
MESERVE

LOCATION
SWITZER.
RUSSIA
CANADA
CANADA
USA
ANTARCTIC

THICK. (m)
137
52
322
209
26
80

% B. SLIP
50
65
75
10
9
0

Movement (m/yr)
200 -85
?
25
25
20*
1.7

With icefall can reach 300m/y

To gain an idea of the scaling factors for glacial movement the distance the grinding
ring moves in one hour is determined. To determine this distance the average distance
of 85 mm to the centre of the grinding is taken. Therefore average distance is 85 mm x
= 267.0 mm. In one rotation at 60 per min total distance travelled is 267.0 x 6 mm 1602 mm. or 1.602 m per rotation.
Table 5 Distance travelled, in the grinding chamber of the Wright glacier machine, per unit time

Time (hrs)

Distance travelled (m)

13

1
6
24

16.02
96.12
384.48

Discussion
The outcome of these grinding experiments was remarkably revealing as regards the
vertical displacement data in which was seen very important stages in the grinding
process, figures 1, 4 and 6
Fractures initiate and propagate from points of critical pressure, such as grain - grain
contact (Zhang et al. 1990). Empirical observations of the resulting cone-crack
patterns have been observed using glass beads and rock discs (Gallagher et al. 1974),
conglomerate pebbles (Gallagher, 1987; McEwen, 1981),and sand grains (Chuhan et
al., 2002; Gallagher et al., 1974, 1974). Moss (1966) in a classic paper described the
initial fluviatile fragmentation of granite, this gave rise to the term Moss Defects. The
exact nature of these defects is not yet fully understood but there is no doubt they play
an important part in the glacial grinding process. It is realized that the transition of high
to low quartz played an important role in quartz breakage mechanisms and in part is
responsible for the results gained.
The depth and movement of glaciers is a complex process and involves many factors
due to the climate variations over the last glacial period, these are discussed in detail
see (Kukla 2002). Sediment production in high altitudes has been discussed by (Owen
et. al 2002 and these experiments bear out there finding However, in these glacial
grinding experiments and number of carefully calculated assumptions have had to be
made such as the slope of the glacier had to be compensated for by precisely
controlling the grinding speed. The maximum load that could be applied to the surface
of the sand in the grinding chamber was 30kg. Fowler 1989 described glacial surges
but it was not easy replicate this in the apparatus used.
In the light of experience serious clogging of the 1mm slots was observed and it takes a
considerable time to remove the debris from them. This in turn gave rise to further
damage However, the variable slot grinding ring proved to be valuable in deciding what
would be the best slot width to use. Therefore to avoid making up a new set of grinding
rings, which would be costly and time consuming, it was decided to modify the 24 slot
ring to have 2 mm and 3mm alternating slots. This modified pair of grinding rings will be
used for all future experiments.
The results obtained clearly show the stages of the grinding process and was
reproducible as seen by the slopes shown in figures 1, 5, 7 and 9. This is considered to
be an important finding as it is now clear to see up to six stages of the grinding process
in at least three separate experiments e.g. slope 2 figure 1, slope 1 in figure 4 and
slope 1 in figure 6 are all very similar taking into account the different profiles of the
grinding rings and the different grinding times. Results of remaining experiments
showed a similar pattern.
14

The particle size distributions for the three experiments clearly show the effect of the
number of slots on the grinding ring and the time of the experiment. Further work is in
hand a to develop a mathematical theory of the results shown in this paper
Conclusions.
The key question was: is there a set of internal defects in natural quartz crystals which
affect the formation of clastic particles? Are sand and silt distinct entities controlled by
material nature rather than by external processes? The Wright glacier machine allows
us to appreciate that there are stages in the grinding process and that characteristic
products are produced. Fig.5 can be presented as showing seven stages of
deformation but might be better considered as showing two major stages; stages 2 and
3 constitute a loess silt forming stage where 30-40um particles are formed. Stages
4,5,6 and 7 are grinding towards the comminution limit and will eventually give a very
fine product, as shown in fig.6. We tentatively propose two grinding regimes; a modest
grinding to produce loess sized particles, say around coarse silt size, and a much more
thorough grinding to produce very fine particles. Large scale continental glaciers might
produce the very fine product which could go to form the post-glacial clays , the
sensitive soils sometimes known as quickclays(see Cabrera & Smalley 1973). Large
scale mountain production (as in Owen et al 2002) with smaller(but widespread)
glaciers involved might tend to produce the larger silt product. What might be called
early-stage grinding gives loess sized particles; late-stage grinding gives a very fine
product and provides material for quickclays and similar post-glacial soils.

Acknowledgements.
We thank Mr Geoffey Hennell and his collegues at the Engineering Society in
Ruddington, Nottingham who organised and oversaw the manufacturing of the four new
grinding rings.. The quality and precision of their work was outstanding.
We would also like to thank the technical staff in the laboratories of the Loughborough
University School of Civil and Building Engineering for the help and assistance in
running these experiments, in particular Mr. Mike Smeeton for his help with the data
logging software and Mr. Jonathan Hales for his help with the grinding samples

15

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Gratz grain-boundary model: Geology, v. 26, p. 915-918.
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new approach to their nature, geology, distribution and geotechnical
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Fowler A. C.1989 A mathematical theory of glacial surges SIAM J. APPL. Math. Vol. 49.
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Marshall, J.R., ed., Clastic particles; scanning electron microscopy and shape analysis
of sedimentary and volcanic clasts: New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, p.
189-228.
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studies relating to microfracture in sandstone: Tectonophysics, v. 21, p. 203-247.
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17

List of figures
1

Vertical displacement plotted against time, and the changing gradients indicate
changes in the style of deformation. .

Particle size analysis of the results in figure 1 clearly indicating three particle size
modes are produced. Evidence of peaks at 40, 25 and 2.5m

Particle size analysis of young loess from Remisowka SE Kazakhstan.

Particle size distribution from the Ruma brickyard. Maximum ultrasonic agitation
applied. Note the additional peak at 0.2m

Vertical displacement plotted against time for 36 slot ring. The changing gradients
indicate changes in the style of deformation.

Particle size analysis of the results in figure 5. Note here the shift of the particle
range into the silt region.

Results for variable 12 slot grinding ring.

18

Particle size analysis of the results in figure 7. Note here the shift of the particle
range into the silt region.

Six hour run using the variable 12 slot rings again clearly showing well defined
stages in the grinding process

10 Particle size analysis of the results in figure 5. Note here the shift of the particle
range into the silt region
11 Overall view of the Bromhead Ring Shear
12 Detailed view of the Bromhead grinding chamber
13 36 slot grinding ring (one of a pair).

List of tables
1

Gear setting for turret rotational speeds

List of ISO14688-1 particle sizes

Glacial depths and forces on the base

Data of a selection of glaciers

Distance travelled, in the grinding chamber of the Bromhead apparatus, per unit
time

19