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Indiliel — Peridotite under the microscope by-nc-nd

#mineralogy #minerals #rock #petrology #thinsection
Published: 2016-01-01 22:46:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 1271; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 5
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Description Thin section of peridotite rock composed of olivine and pyroxene minerals. Picture taken with a regualr digital camera through the lense of a polarisation microscope (= those are not the natural colors of the mineral, but caused by polarized light).

I came across pictures I took in petrology courses, 2007.
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Comments: 15

ShaperOfThings [2016-01-23 06:48:34 +0000 UTC]

What I find amazing is I'm quite sure most folks thought it was altered and reassembled fall leaves, I did, then to find out what it actually is, kind of leaves me with the full circle feeling, nature Even when striped of mysticism, Gods and nostalgia is still a creative and adapting program we will never be able to mimic.

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Indiliel In reply to ShaperOfThings [2016-01-29 18:35:11 +0000 UTC]

That is true. Many years ago I would have not know what it is either

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QR005 [2016-01-10 22:34:09 +0000 UTC]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! (0 o0)

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Indiliel In reply to QR005 [2016-01-10 22:43:04 +0000 UTC]

?

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QR005 In reply to Indiliel [2016-01-11 21:58:44 +0000 UTC]

Roooooooooocks............... sooooooooo nice.........
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!....

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Csendes-Arny [2016-01-02 14:37:09 +0000 UTC]

I love it I wish I could try such a microscope once *_*
What was the purpose of looking at the sample in polarised light? What does it reveal about the sample?

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Indiliel In reply to Csendes-Arny [2016-01-02 23:43:30 +0000 UTC]

Polorized light lets certain minerals shine in certain colors, makes some features visable and reacts in certain ways with the light. With these characteristics you can in first place determine what mineral you have, but also find out things about the history of the rock (when it formed, under what conditions it formed, did it experience a change after being formed).
Here is an example of a rock thin section with normal light:

and here polorized:


First picture everything looks alike, but in the second you can already sort out different minerals: black, grey, yellow. Stuff with line or structure and stuff that is uniform.

About the Peridotite sample I can say the minerals are pretty beat up: cracked and disolved. The line-structure in the minerals always go in a certain direction, which is caused by the particular crystal structure of it. The olivine minerals are very unstable on the earth surface, but feel comfortable in greater depths with more pressure = the rock was created in some depth underneath the surface and was later brought up which caused the minerals to disolve.

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MorellSunweaver [2016-01-02 08:35:06 +0000 UTC]

Wow, cool and sharp! Nice photo

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Indiliel In reply to MorellSunweaver [2016-01-02 23:19:02 +0000 UTC]

Thank you . Takes some patience to get it right.

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kingdragon01 [2016-01-02 01:25:38 +0000 UTC]

Really cool picture!

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Indiliel In reply to kingdragon01 [2016-01-02 23:19:15 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! Glad you like it

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Neferchau [2016-01-02 00:56:25 +0000 UTC]

Wow, very nice!  

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Indiliel In reply to Neferchau [2016-01-02 23:19:31 +0000 UTC]

Thanks !

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silverbullet72 [2016-01-01 22:55:48 +0000 UTC]

Das sieht ja cool aus!

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Indiliel In reply to silverbullet72 [2016-01-01 23:03:29 +0000 UTC]

Danke

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