Fractal-geometry techniques in the quantification of complex rock structures: A special view on scaling regimes, inhomogeneity and anisotropy

Fractal-geometry techniques are widely applied to the quantification of complex rock structures. Important properties of such structures are (i) different scaling behaviour on different scales, (ii) inhomogeneity, and (iii) anisotropy. The current paper presents a special view on the quantification of these properties by classical and newly developed fractal-geometry methods, discusses advantages and disadvantages of special methods and outlines the correlations between structure quantifications and rock properties and structure-forming processes, presented in the literature. (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.