thin section
Rock sample slide
A thin section is a slice of rock, mineral, or biological tissue cut thin enough to transmit light, typically about 30 micrometers.
Geologists and biologists mount these slices on glass slides and examine them under polarizing microscopes, where minerals reveal diagnostic optical properties invisible in hand specimens: The thin section showed quartz and feldspar crystals.
- crystalliteMicroscopic ordered solid region
- petrographyScientific rock classification
- mineralNaturally formed crystalline solid
- microtomePrecision thin-slice cutter
- grinding wheelRotating abrasive disc
polarized light · geology · grain size · anisotropy · cover slip · foliation · histology · metamorphic rocks · slide · polishing · sample · glass · lamella · specimen · quartz · rock · grain · feldspar
- rock featurescliff, cliff face, rock face, crag, overhang
- electron microscopyelectron microscope, SEM, scanning electron microscope, STEM, electron gun
- microscopymicroscope, objective lens, compound microscope, eyepiece, compound microscopes
- optical mineralogyextinction, polarized light, isotropic, anisotropic, biaxial
- petrologypetrology, igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks, rock cycle
- ceramic analysispetrography