MudrockNet: Semantic segmentation of mudrock SEM images through deep learning

Segmentation and analysis of individual pores and grains of mudrocks from scanning electron microscope images is non-trivial because of imaging artifacts, variation in pixel grayscale values across images, and overlaps in grayscale values among different physical features such as silt grains, clay grains and pores, which make identifications difficult. Moreover, because grains and pores often have overlapping grayscale values, direct application of threshold-based segmentation techniques is not sufficient. Recent advances in the field of computer vision have made it easier and faster to segment images and identify multiple occurrences of such features in an image, provided that ground-truth data for training the algorithm are available. Here we propose a deep learning SEM image segmentation model, MudrockNet based on Google's DeepLab-v3+ architecture implemented with the TensorFlow library. The ground-truth data were obtained from an image-processing workflow applied to scanning electron microscope images of uncemented muds from the Kumano Basin offshore Japan at depths <1.1 km. The trained deep learning model obtained a pixel-accuracy > 90%, and predictions for the test data obtained a mean intersection over union (IoU) of 0.6663 for silt grains, 0.7797 for clay grains and 0.6751 for pores. We also compared our model with the random forest classifier using trainable Weka segmentation in ImageJ, and it was observed that MudrockNet gave better predictions for silt grains, clay grains and pores in most cases. The size, concentration, and spatial arrangement of the silt and clay grains can affect the petrophysical properties of a mudrock, and an automated method to accurately identify the different grains and pores in mudrocks can help improve reservoir and seal characterization for petroleum exploration and anthropogenic waste sequestration.