Rock-Forming Minerals in Thin Section

Steven Dutch, 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.

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

Return to Crustal Materials (Mineralogy-Petrology) Class Notes
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Created 22 Sept 1997, Last Update 01 Mar 2005

Not an official UW Green Bay site