Mineral Identification Thin Section

Plane polarised light width of view 2 5 mm.

Mineral identification thin section. This assistant is designed to give varying views of the same mineral in differing situations. Geol209 intensive school day 2 lecture 2 properties of minerals in thin section follow une geoscience on facebook. A catalogue of minerals textures in thin section.

The properties of amphiboles micas pyroxenes and olivines and an introduction to mineral properties in thin section dexter perkins univ. Rock forming minerals of metamorphic rocks in thin section a work in progress atlas of metamorphic minerals. They also look at a few of the minerals in thin section.

In optical mineralogy and petrography a thin section or petrographic thin section is a laboratory preparation of a rock mineral soil pottery bones or even metal sample for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope electron microscope and electron microprobe a thin sliver of rock is cut from the sample with a diamond saw and ground optically flat. You begin by following step by step procedures and looking up a lot of things. Identification of minerals in thin sections can be aided by studying as many images of a mineral as possible.

Learning mineral identification is like learning to cook. Identification tables for common minerals in thin section these tables provide a concise summary of the properties of a range of common minerals. The same mineral can look quite different in different rocks.

Within the tables minerals are arranged by colour so as to help with identification. But after a while you notice regularities become familiar with the usual suspects make some productive mistakes and get better at it until it becomes easy and fun. Minerals are listed in the order in which they appear in deer howie zussman 1992.

If a mineral commonly has a range of colours it will appear once for each colour. Rock forming minerals of metamorphic rocks in thin section a work in progress 1 olivine. Ruth siddall university college london.