A Practical Introduction to Optical Mineralogy

1 Introduction to the microscopic study of minerals.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The transmitted-light microscope.- 1.3 Systematic description of minerals in thin section using transmitted light.- 1.4 The reflected-light microscope.- 1.5 The appearance of polished sections under the reflected-light microscope.- 1.6 Systematic description of minerals in polished section using reflected light.- 1.7 Observations using oil immersion in reflected-light studies.- 1.8 Polishing hardness.- 1.9 Microhardness (VHN).- 1.10 Points on the use of the microscope (transmitted and reflected light).- 1.11 Thin- and polished-section preparation.- 2 Silicate minerals.- 2.1 Crystal chemistry of silicate minerals.- 2.2 Mineral descriptions.- 3 The non-silicates.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Carbonates.- 3.3 Sulphides.- 3.4 Oxides.- 3.5 Halides.- 3.6 Hydroxides.- 3.7 Sulphates.- 3.8 Phosphate.- 3.9 Tungstate.- 3.10 Arsenide.- 3.11 Native elements.- 4 Transmitted-light crystallography.- 4.1 Polarised light: an introduction.- 4.2 Refractive index.- 4.3 Isotropy.- 4.4 The biaxial indicatrix triaxial ellipsoid.- 4.5 The uniaxial indicatrix.- 4.6 Interference colours and Newton’s Scale.- 4.7 Fast and slow components, and order determination.- 4.8 Interference figures.- 4.9 Pleochroic scheme.- 4.10 Extinction angle.- 5 Reflected-light theory.- 5.1 Introduction page.- 5.2 Colour of minerals in PPL.- 5.3 Isotropic and anisotropic sections.- Appendix A.1 Refractive indices of biaxial minerals.- Appendix A.2 Refractive indices of uniaxial positive minerals.- Appendix A.3 Refractive indices of uniaxial negative minerals.- Appendix A.4 Refractive indices of isotropic minerals.- Appendix C Properties of ore minerals.- Appendix D Mineral identification chart.- Appendix E Gangue minerals.