Guidelines for writing and scoring the Pet Rock Paper

Fall 2006 Darrell Henry

Comments to the Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology Class:

In the past several common problems have cropped up in the preliminary written
presentation of the Pet Rock project. Rather than make the same types of comments on many of
the papers, I put together the following guideline that should help you decide where certain
information should go and what should be addressed. There are also sources of images and data
that you may have forgotten about and could possibly use for the paper or PowerPoint
presentation. It is important that you make the appropriate citations of ideas in the paper and
images/figures in the paper and PowerPoint presentation.

The rubric that will be used for scoring different aspects of the Pet Rock Paper is italicized
and underlined.

General comments on constructing paragraphs in a scientific paper.

General writing style of paper: (30/30)
When you write a paragraph the lead sentence in the paragraph should basically answer the
question What is the news? Or what is the important idea?, and the rest of the paragraph
should explain it. When you are finished with your paper you should be able just read the first
sentence of each paragraph and get the essence of the paper. Below is an example from one of
my papers (Henry, D. J. and Dutrow, B. (2001) Compositional zoning and element partitioning of nickeloan
tourmaline in a metamorphosed karstbauxite from Samos, Greece. American Mineralogist, 86, 1130-1142).

Natural tourmalines contain a wide range of elements, but those with substantial
amounts of Ni and Co are relatively unusual. In most cases, tourmaline with high Ni contents
also has high Cr levels because the tourmaline-bearing rocks are associated with meta-
ultramafic rocks (e.g., Challis et al. 1995; Michailidis et al. 1995). For instance, a chromian
dravite (8.5 wt% Cr2O3), from a calcareous rock in contact with serpentinite, has the highest
Ni level previously recorded in tourmaline, 0.75 wt% NiO [0.1 atoms per formula unit
(apfu)] (Jan et al. 1972; Henry and Dutrow 1996). The recorded concentration levels of Co
in tourmaline are even lower, with the maximal reported Co being 45 ppm in a tourmaline
from an aplite (Power 1968; Henry and Dutrow 1996).

Use of images in the paper (30/30)

Sections that should be included in Pet Rock Paper (bold)

Title: (10/10)
Come up with a title that expresses what you did and the importance of the study. A title such
as: Amphibolite xenolith in Late Archean Granitoids of the Beartooth Mountains, Montana-
Wyoming: Evidence for interaction with granitoids would be an appropriate type of title.

Abstract (30/30)
You need an abstract that tells the reader what you found. This does not have to be long
generally 200-400 words. However, it is commonly the only thing that a reader might see. So it
has to express the important points that you want to convey in a relatively few words.

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Introduction (30/30)
This section is very important because it will draw the reader in. You want to express to the
reader why your project is significant (in other words Why should I care?). For example, if you
are working on a mafic xenolith in the Long Lake granite you might want to start your
introduction with a sentence something like: Mafic xenoliths in granitic rocks commonly
preserve the only information about the earlier crustal constituents and the nature of the thermal
conditions prior to the intrusion of the granitic melts.
After you have explained why your study is significant you need to state your hypothesis or
purpose of study and explain how you are going to test the hypothesis. It might be something
like The purpose of the study is to investigate textural and chemical evidence for an earlier
metamorphism and to determine the PT conditions that were preserved in the amphibolite. This
will be accomplished through detailed petrographic and mineral chemical investigations of the
amphibolite

Geologic Setting (20/20)

I would suggest starting with a discussion of the general history of the Beartooth Mountains
beginning with information on the Archean and emphasizing that this is part of the Beartooth-
Bighorn Magmatic Terrain (BBMT). You may want to include a figure with these different
terranes (A good source is the Geologic background powerpoint that I gave link:
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Geology3041/labs/PetRockProject/PetRockProject-
GeologicBackground.ppt ).

Next discuss later events including the Laramide uplift that produce the current Beartooth
Mountains. Note that Sevier Orogeny probably is not a significant player in this area.

Use the Selected Features of the Beartooth Mountains paper that I gave to you for the
parts of the geologic history that you may want to emphasize. A link to the pdf of this is
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Research/Beartooths/EasternBeartoothHistory.pdf . The reference
is Henry, D. and Mogk, D. (2003) Selected Features of the Precambrian Rocks of the eastern
Beartooth Mountains, Montana and Wyoming. Teaching Petrology in the 21st Century
Workbook, section 3, 18 pp..

The last part of the section should be about the geographic location of the sample any field
information you might have. A good location map for the BTR, HR and QC samples is on the
information webpage:
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Geology3041/labs/BeartoothBackground/BeartoothMtns.htm

Sample preparation and analytical procedures (30/30)

This section should contain information on several topics:
rock preparation
o hand sample acquisition and description [not the actual description, but the fact that
you did one as part of a systematic process]
o rock cutting procedures
o thin section procedures
petrographic descriptions [not the actual description, but the fact that you did one]
analytical procedures

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 o backscattered image acquisition and its usage for mineral identification and electron
microprobe analytical point locations, and
o electron microprobe analytical conditions
o normalization procedures for the minerals that you used for the minerals that you
analyzed

Below is an example of the type of electron microprobe analytical procedure that I have
used in one of my papers (Henry, D. J. and Dutrow, B. (2001) Compositional zoning and element
partitioning of nickeloan tourmaline in a metamorphosed karstbauxite from Samos, Greece. American
Mineralogist, 86, 1130-1142).

Electron-microprobe analysis
Tourmaline, staurolite, gahnite, muscovite and paragonite were quantitatively
analyzed by wavelength-dispersive spectrometry (WDS) using the automated JEOL 733
electron microprobe at LSU. WDS analyses were done at an accelerating potential of 15
kV and 5-20 nA using a 1-5 m electron-beam diameter, depending on the mineral.
Lower sample current and wider beam diameters were used for mica analyses. Standards
were well-characterized synthetic and natural minerals, including andalusite (Al),
diopside (Ca, Mg, Si), fayalite (Fe), chromite (Cr), synthetic glasses (V, Ni, Co),
kaersutite (Ti), rhodonite (Mn), willemite (Zn), albite (Na), sanidine (K) and apatite (F).
Several well-characterized tourmalines and staurolites served as secondary standards to
ensure good-quality analyses (Dutrow et al. 1986, 1999; Holdaway et al. 1986; Henry
and Dutrow 1990). Micas and gahnite were normalized on the basis of 11 and 4 oxygens,
respectively.

Results (50/50)
This section should contain information on several topics:
hand sample description
o general appearance and observed mineralogy
o any textures (e.g. foliation, lineation, crenulation cleavage, etc.
petrographic description
o mineralogy, mineral dimensions and mineral modes (and variations if it is a
heterogeneous sample)
o maybe add the thin section scan that is on
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Geology3041/labs/BeartoothBackground/2005-
PetRockImages.htm and any digital photomicrographs that you took
o optical heterogeneity (color or optical zoning)
o textures of minerals (e.g. lineation, foliation of specific minerals) or replacement
o alteration of minerals (e.g. sericitization of plagioclase, chloritization of biotite, etc.)
o proper petrologic rock name based on the major minerals and textures
backscattered image
o Description of the image and any additional noteworthy features
o Analytical points on image
Electron microprobe analyses
o Tables of mineral analyses including the weight % oxide data and normalized atoms
per formula unit (from STOICH program). I will be sending some Excel files that
should help you out here.

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 o Discussion of what kind of minerals you are dealing with (e.g. plagioclase An25-28;
edenitic hornblende). (This is part of the STOICH program. If you dont have the
information, see me.)
o Comparison of biotite and amphibole data with other rocks from class (comparison
plots:
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Geology3041/labs/BeartoothBackground/Beartooth
Mtns.htm ).

Discussion/conclusions (30/30) This section should contain information on several topics:

Information on PT conditions
o Hornblende-plagioclase bearing rocks should include the following:
Holland and Blundy, 1994 geothermometer assuming the best estimate of P
discussion of whether this rock has the appropriate mineral assemblage
note the estimated uncertainties
o Hornblende-bearing rocks should include:
Ernst and Liu, 1998 geothermobarometer for both P and T
Note the uncertainties
o Biotite-bearing rocks
Henry et al., 2005 Ti-in-biotite geothermometer
Suitability of rock for application of this thermometer
Uncertainties
o Garnet-biotite rocks
Berman TWQ geothermometer
o Plagioclase-feldspar rocks
2 feldspar thermometer for igneous rocks
o General assemblage information relative to a petrogenetic grid (e.g. sillimanite-
cordierite-biotite or garnet-cordierite-biotite assemblages).
Discussion of where this rock fits into the history of the area and any discussion as to
where is might have come from (e.g. basalt, granite, mantle)
o If there is whole rock data, this is a good place to discuss the potential original
extrusive rock type using the TAS diagram, and discuss possible igneous
mineralogy using a CIPW calculation (although you should remember the
limitations of the CIPW norm, esp. they do not include hydrous minerals like biotite
or amphibole in the calculations.)
Anything else that you think might be important.

Acknowledgements (10/10) Thank all those that assisted you in completing this task.

References cited (10/10) Include all of the references that you cited in your paper in the
format used by American Mineralogist.

Appendices These are optional, but could include things like your petrographic reports, tables
from the probe, or anything else you may not want to put in the main text.