GEOS 356 – Petrology Name_________________________

Lab: M T W

Lab 1

Mineralogy Review and Introduction to the Polarizing Microscope

The purpose of this lab is to review some of the important methods of describing and identifying
minerals in hand specimen that you have learned in Mineralogy (e.g. cleavage, luster) and to
introduce you to the polarizing microscope and the methods of obtaining the various
determinative optical properties.
Part 1 – Review of physical properties of minerals
Every mineral has characteristic physical properties that can be used to identify that mineral. The
following tables and exercises are intended to reacquaint you with some useful diagnostic
properties.
1. Habit is the characteristic crystal form or combination of forms of a mineral. It is the
macroscopic expression of the microscopic (molecular) crystalline structure.

Habit Definition

Acicular Very elongated and needle-shaped

Bladed Elongate and flattened blades

Columnar; prismatic Column-like

Equant Box-shaped with equal dimensions

Fibrous Aggregate of hairlike or needlelike

crystals
Foliated; micaceous Easily separated into sheets of leaves

Massive No distinct shape

Tabular Tablet-like, one dimension may be

markedly smaller than the other two.
2. Cleavage is the tendency to split or break along characteristic crystallographic planes
corresponding to directions of minimum cohesion. Cleavage is best described by:
1. Number of cleavage planes.
2. Quality of cleavage (i.e. perfect, good or poor)
3. Form of cleavage (e.g. perfect prismatic cleavage)
4. Angles between cleavage planes.

3. Hardness is the resistance of a mineral to scratching and abrasion. Relative hardness is

expressed on Mohr’s Hardness Scale:
Mineral Scale Value Comparative
Hardness
Wax
Talc 1
Gypsum 2
Fingernail
Aluminum
Calcite 3
Penny
Brass
Fluorite 4
Iron
Apatite 5
Knife blade
Window glass
Orthoclas 6
e Steel file
Porcelain streak plate
7
Quartz 8
Topaz 9
Corundum 10
Diamond

4. Luster is the general appearance of a macroscopic fresh surface in reflected light.

Luster Description Mineral Type

Metallic Shiny, like polished metal Opaque minerals, typically ores
Non-metallic
Adamantine Brilliant and diamond-like Typically high R.I minerals
Vitreous Bright and glassy Typically moderate R.I. minerals
Greasy Appears greasy, or oil- Typically low R.I minerals
Pearly coated Various minerals; usually seen on
Whitish, iridescent, like cleavage surfaces
Silky mother-of-pearl Fibrous minerals
 Waxy Silky Various minerals; often fine-grained
Earthy Low light reflection Rough or porous minerals
Dull and dirty looking

5. Fracture is the manner in which the mineral breaks other than along planes of cleavage.

Fracture Description Example

Conchoida Smoothly curved, ribbed surface Obsidian
l
Even Nearly flat surfaces Garnet
Hackly Ragged surface with sharp edges and Native
points copper
Irregular Rough and irregular planes Rhodonite
Splintery Fibrous or splintery fracture surface pectolite
Other Properties:

 Color …a usefull property, but not definitive

 Streak …hematite produces a red-brown

 Density and specific gravity …difficult to estimate in the field

 Reaction to acid …calcite reacts with HCl

 Taste …halite tastes salty; sylvite tastes bitter

 Feel …talc feels soapy of greasy

 Magnetism …magnetite

 Double refraction …calcite, but never seen in the field

 Smell …sphalerite streak smells of sulfur

There are streak plates, pennies and glass slides for you to use to help in your
identification of unknown minerals.

Part 2 – Introduction to the polarizing microscope.

Exercise 1: The Olympus BH-12 and Meiji 9000 microscopes are depicted on the following
page. Use the list below to help in identifying the location of the following components of
the microscope. (Phillpotts, p. 5) (7 points)

Analyzer Gypsum plate

Base Objective lens
Bertrand lens control Observation tube polarizer
Condenser Revolving nosepiece
Eyepiece Light control
Focusing knobs Stage

Olympus Meiji

About centering of the microscopes:

All microscopes should be centered. Centering is important to be able to recognize the
properties of minerals under the microscope properly. Each of the lenses must be centered
with respect to the axis of rotation of the microscope stage. Objective lenses are
commonly mounted on a turret that can be rotated. NEVER NEVER NEVER rotate the
turret by pulling on the lenses.
How to recognize proper centering of the microscope:
Choose a small grain with the 10x objective and place it under the crosshairs. It should
remain on or very closely around the crosshairs as you carefully rotate the stage.
Adjustment is done using the Stage Centering Knobs located at two o’ clock and ten o’
clock. Be careful not to touch them by accident when turning the microscope stage.
Should the microscope not be centered ask your TA for assistance.
How to recognize if the polarizer and the analyzer are perpendicular to each other:
To determine whether the polarizer and analyzer have their vibration directions at right
angles, remove the thin section from the stage and insert the analyzer. Use a medium
power objective. The field will be black if the nicols are crossed. If not call for help.
Other handling of the microscope:
 Be careful about focusing! While it is fine for low magnifications to just look into the
ocular as you focus the slide, this procedure can be deadly under high magnification as
you run the risk of actually going through the thin section. Thin sections are fragile and
costly to replace so please focus carefully. For high magnification always close in on the
slide watching from the outside and do the final focusing with the fine focusing knob
(inner, more prominent knob).
Exercise 2: With the analyzer out, look at a blank slide. What happens when you put in the
analyzer? What happens when you rotate the stage? (1 point)

Exercise 3: What is the correct way of turning the objective lenses? (1 point)

How do you recognize that the microscope is properly centered? (1point)

Exercise 4: Focus on a mineral grain and fill in the table below. Note which way the stage moves
when you turn the focusing knob (up or down). Be careful when using the high power lens; make
sure the slide is correctly placed on the stage, i.e. with the cover slip on top. Thin sections are
fragile and costly to replace so please focus carefully.
Type of microscope (Olympus or Meiji): (4 points)

Lens Color Objective Total Diameter of Relative

Code Magnification Magnification Field Brightness
Red
Yellow
Green
Blue

Hint: To determine the diameter of the field, place the clear ruler on the stage.
Part 3 – Mineral Properties in orthoscopic light
This part of the lab we will expand on the petrography skills you acquired in previous sections
and will enable you to begin identifying minerals based on their properties in orthoscopic light.
Exercise 5: Thin sections ML-2 (1) 1020 (4), and MET 53
For each of the below-listed thin sections, observe the prominent mineral under the various
optical influences listed above each column.
For column 1, describe the mineral’s color and relief in box 1, and then note any differences you
observe in the mineral’s appearance when you rotate the stage in box 2. (3 points)
For column 2, describe the interference color of the mineral in box 1, and in box 2 note the
change in appearance in the mineral (if any) when the stage is rotated. (3 points)
For column 3, in box 1 note the color of the mineral when you insert the gypsum plate, then in
box 2 note the changes to this color upon rotation of the stage. (3 points)

1 2 3
Analyzer Out Out In In In In
Gypsum Out Out Out Out In In
Plate
Stage Fixed Rotate Fixed Rotate Fixed Rotate
ML-2 plag

1020 bt

MET 53
hbl

Exercise 6: Thin section TLH-1 (4 slides). Focus on a garnet (the mineral that is visible with the
naked eye) and set your microscope with the analyzer out. Describe the mineral’s color
and the sharpness of its edges and how well it stands out from the background (i.e. its
relief). (3 points)
Focus on the edge of a garnet and move the stage down. Does the edge (Becke Line)
appear to move into, or out of, the garnet? (1 point)

Does this mineral have positive or negative relief? (1 point)

Now put the analyzer in. What change (if any) occurs in the mineral’s appearance? (1 point)

Sketch what you see; indicate colors (4 points)

Analyzer OUT Analyzer IN

Magnification:_____________
Exercise 7: Thin section 1020 (6 slides). Focus on a large biotite grain (ask your TA for help) so
that the entire grain is within the field of view. Set your microscope with the analyzer out. Orient
the mineral so that it’s long axis is horizontal and then slowly rotate the stage through 360°.
Describe the changes (if any) that occur in the mineral’s appearance and note the degrees of
rotation at which the change (if any) is most pronounced. (2 points)

What is the name of this characteristic? (1 point)

What produces this characteristic? (1 point)

Now perform the same operation with the analyzer in. Describe the changes (if any) that occur in
the mineral’s appearance and note the degrees of rotation at which the change (if any) is most
pronounced. (2 points)

With the analyzer in, sketch what you see (1) when the mineral is horizontal and (2) when the
change in appearance is most pronounced; indicate colors and angle.

Horizontal; analyzer in. _______°; analyzer in.

Exercise 8: Thin section SJA6 (6). Focus on one of the prominent colored minerals in SJA6 (or
another slide with your TA’s help). Rotate the stage until one of the two parallel sets of lines
within the mineral (cleavage) is vertical. Now rotate the stage until the second set of lines is
vertical. What are the angles between the two sets of cleavage?
Acute angle (1 point):
Obtuse angle (1 point):
Based on these angles, and your knowledge of minerals in hand specimen, identify this mineral
(1 point):

Describe any other distinctive optical properties that you see (2 points):

Sketch what you see, including the cleavage and cleavage angles; indicate colors.

Exercise 9: Hand specimen 10:22; thin section R-15 (2).

Describe hand specimen 10:22. Include color, texture, grain size, number of mineral types
present, and estimate the quantity of each mineral. If you can, name this rock (4 points):
The thin section is taken from a similar rock and is composed primarily of three silicate minerals.
The minerals are quite similar when observed under plane-polarized light except that two may
show reasonable cleavage while the other shows no cleavage. Describe the optical properties of
each mineral present (3) and use these observations to identify each mineral (12 points).
1.

2.

3.
Draw a representative sketch of this rock and, based on your knowledge of these rocks, try to
identify the three silicate minerals and label your sketch accordingly. (3 points)

Magnification:

Total Points for Part 3 ( /49)

Total Points ( /63)