Hornblende Gneiss Slide

These thin sections exhibit beautiful crystals of olivine, pyroxene and augite, which often shows oscillatory zonation held within a matrix of plagioclase feldspar. The slides supplement the hand specimens nicely and are useful for interpreting the crystallisation history of the rock.

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.

Granite adamellite thin section slide exhibiting crystals of quartz, biotite and feldspar. We collected this material from the famous Shap Fell quarry, in Cumbria hence the rocks alternative name ‘ Shap Granite ‘.

We provide a full range of igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic and mineral thin sections. Click here to view them. Should you require a microscope, they can be found here.

Pumice thin section slide exhibiting the highly vesicular nature of this extrusive igneous rock. Pumice lavas tend to be silicic or felsic which are highly viscous thus do not allow the gas bubbles to escape efficiently.This material was collected from the Lipari islands of Italy.