Thin slice of a material prepared for microscopic examination
Three thin sections of rockThin sections under a petrographic microscopePhotomicrographs of a thin section containing a carbonate vein in mica rich rock. In cross-polarized light on left, plane-polarized light on right.
In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section (or petrographic thin section) is a thin slice of a rock or mineral sample, prepared in a laboratory, 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. It is then mounted on a glass slide and then ground smooth using progressively finer abrasive grit until the sample is only 30 μm thick. The method uses the Michel-Lévy interference colour chart to determine thickness, typically using quartz as the thickness gauge because it is one of the most abundant minerals.
When placed between two polarizing filters set at right angles to each other, the optical properties of the minerals in the thin section alter the colour and intensity of the light as seen by the viewer. As different minerals have different optical properties, most rock forming minerals can be easily identified. Plagioclase for example can be seen in the photo on the right as a clear mineral with multiple parallel twinning planes. The large blue-green minerals are clinopyroxene with some exsolution of orthopyroxene.
Thin sections are prepared in order to investigate the optical properties of the minerals in the rock. This work is a part of petrology and helps to reveal the origin and evolution of the parent rock.
A photograph of a rock in thin section is often referred to as a photomicrograph.
Thin sections are also used in the microscopic study of bones, metals and ceramics.
In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thinsection (or petrographic thinsection) is a thin slice of a rock or mineral sample, prepared in a laboratory...
"to cut") is a cutting tool used to produce extremely thin slices of material known as sections, with the process being termed microsectioning. Important...
c l 0 {\displaystyle \ c_{l_{0}}} is the section lift coefficient when the angle of attack is zero. Thin airfoil theory assumes the air is an inviscid...
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Thin Lizzy initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter...
known as Mie Mie ThinThin Khaing (born 1978), Burmese archer ThinThin Soe (born 1989), Burmese football goalkeeper This page or section lists people that...
mollusc shells. They are difficult to see in a limestone sample except in thinsection and are less common in ancient limestones, possibly because compaction...
muscovite in an orthogneiss thinsection under plane-polarized light. Biotite in thinsection under cross-polarized light. Basal section of biotite, with needle-like...
Ultramicrotomy is a method for cutting specimens into extremely thin slices, called ultra-thinsections, that can be studied and documented at different magnifications...
and cells; fixation also hardens tissues which aids in cutting the thinsections of tissue needed for observation under the microscope. Fixatives generally...
junction plaque is a relatively large area of membrane observed in TEM thinsection and freeze fracture (FF) seen filled with transmembrane proteins in both...
plane Section (biology), a taxonomic rank that is applied differently between botany and zoology Section (botany) Histological section, a thin slice of...
crystalline nature is only vaguely revealed even microscopically in thinsection by transmitted polarized light. Among the sedimentary rocks, chert and...
properties. Most commonly, rock and mineral samples are prepared as thinsections or grain mounts for study in the laboratory with a petrographic microscope...
abundant sericite. Sericite in thinsection (fine, high birefringence flakes covering other larger minerals) Granite in thinsection under cross-polarized light...
the thickness of the sample. When a mineral is sufficiently thin (e.g., in a thinsection for petrography), it may become transparent even if that property...
ultra-thinsections about 60–90 nm thick. Disposable glass knives are also used because they can be made in the lab and are much cheaper. Sections can also...
fragments, with a crystalline matrix, would be termed a biooosparite. Thin-section of a biooosparite with calcitic ooids and sparry calcite cement; Carmel...
and usually automorphic, with a red-brown pleochroism in petrographic thinsection. Minerals portal List of minerals Classification of silicate minerals...
microprobe. In an optical mineralogy analysis, petrologists analyze thinsections of rock samples using a petrographic microscope, where the minerals...
dacites, especially pyroxene-bearing dacites, are darker colored. In thinsection, dacites may have an aphanitic to porphyritic texture. Porphyritic dacites...
mineral appears like a bunch of fibres twisted together when viewed in thinsection or even by the naked eye. Both the fibrous and traditional forms of sillimanite...
structure that is unmistakable. Perthite is either microcline or orthoclase with thin lamellae of exsolved albite. Amazon stone, or amazonite, is a green variety...
quartz grains, producing a mortar texture that can be identified in thinsections under a polarizing microscope. With increasing grade of metamorphism...
2023. Cornwall portal Microscopic images of luxullianite. Siddall, R. (2014), Minerals Menu: a catalogue of minerals & textures in thinsection. v t e...
a type of optical microscope used to identify rocks and minerals in thinsections. The microscope is used in optical mineralogy and petrography, a branch...
part of a rectangular block, or only connected to the main block by a thinsection of building. The two 18th-century English country houses of Houghton...
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials...
Natural History crew in Mongolia. Dinosaur eggshell can be studied in thinsection and viewed under a microscope. The interior of a dinosaur egg can be...
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