Rock-Forming Minerals in Thin Section

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

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This page is designed to display some of the most significant features of minerals viewed in thin section, and to show the most conspicuous features of major rock-forming minerals.

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Important Features Visible In Thin Section

Plane-Polarized Light

• Color
• Relief
• Cleavage
• Pleochroism

Crossed Polarizers

• Extinction
• Interference Colors
• Isotropic Materials
• Anomalous Interference Colors
• Zoning
• Undulose Extinction
• Twinning
• Exsolution

Features of Rock-Forming Minerals

• Identification Tables
• Distinguishing Feldspars
• Distinguishing Quartz and its Look-Alikes
• Distinguishing Micaceous Minerals
• Distinguishing Amphiboles and Pyroxenes
• Distinguishing Andalusite, Kyanite and Sillimanite

Essential Minerals

• Quartz
• Microcline
• Plagioclase
• Quartz and its Look-Alikes
• Biotite
• Olivine
• Muscovite
• Garnet
• Carbonate Minerals

Amphiboles and Pyroxenes

• Actinolite-Tremolite
• Aegerine
• Augite
• Diopside
• Glaucophane
• Hypersthene

Important Igneous Minerals

• Epidote
• Tourmaline
• Zircon
• Sphene

Important Metamorphic Minerals

• Chlorite
• Cordierite
• Staurolite
• Talc
• Stilpnomelane

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Return to Mineralogy-Petrology Index
Return to Thin-Section Index
Return to Crystals and Light Index
Return to Crystal Structures Index
Return to Mineral Identification Tables
Return to Professor Dutch's Home Page

Created 22 Sept 1997, Last Update

Not an official UW-Green Bay Site