Bytownite basalt thin section slide exhibiting phenocryts of bytownite feldspar within a fine basaltic groundmass. These thin sections depict beautifully a textbook porphyritic texture. Each section is made to 30 microns thickness and the glass is 46 x 27 mm in size.
Cordierite Hornfels thin section microscope slide exhibiting a dark colour and a characteristic none crystalline form. Fine grains fit together like the fragments of a mosaic, this is often referred to as rough pavement or pavement structure. Larger crystals of cordierite can be seen scattered throughout the fine matrix.
Rare eclogite thin section slides cut from our Norwegian eclogite hand specimens. Eclogite is a rare rock, composed of mainly two minerals, reddish-brown garnets and Omphacite (green pyroxene), our thin sections exhibit this clearly.
Glaucophane Schist thin section microscope slide exhibiting a clear fabric and a wonderful blue hue under plane polarised light. This material was collected from the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales. Each section is made to 30 microns thickness and the glass is 46 x 27 mm, ideal for microscopy and educational purposes.
Norwegian gneiss thin section slide exhibiting a dominant felsic composition i.e. quartz and plagioclase with less prominent mafic bands. We collected this material from Evje, Norway. Each section is made to 30 microns thickness and the glass is 46 x 27 mm, ideal for microscopy and educational purposes.
Hornblende Gneiss thin section slide exhibiting an abundance of the mafic mineral hornblende, accompanied by less abundant biotite mica, quartz and feldspar. This material was collected by staff from Southern Norway. Each section is made to 30 microns thickness and the glass is 46 x 27 mm in size, ideal for microscopy and educational purposes.
Hornfels thin section microscope slide exhibiting a dark colour and a characteristic none crystalline form. Fine grains fit together like the fragments of a mosaic, this is often referred to as rough pavement or pavement structure. Larger quartz clasts are visible but these have recrystallised to form a fine, interlocking mosaic of quartz within the original grain cast.
A thin section of mylonite which was collected from the metamorphic region of Lom, Central Norway. Mylonite is a fine-grained, compact rock produced by dynamic recrystallisation of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock.
Rhomb porphyry thin section exhibiting the textbook porphyritic texture of this rare igneous rock. The thin section shows a fine grained alkali feldspar groundmass with large phenocrysts of augite. This material was collected near Oslo in Norway.
Welded tuff thin section slide exhibiting a jumbled mass of irregularly sized broken clasts held in situ by finer ash particles which have become welded together. This material was collected from Cumbria, the original rock is likely rhyolite, and indeed in hand specimen the tuff almost still looks like rhyolite and appears to show a form of banding.