Geosciences 697O

Optical Mineralogy

Spring, 2005

The goal of this course is to provide both theoretical and practical training in the use of optical mineralogy and microtextural analysis to constrain the petrogenetic history of rocks. Because the theoretical and the practical aspects of this topic are inseparable, we will always meet as a class at the microscopes in room 159. There WILL BE lab work involved in this course, but there will not be a formally scheduled lab that will meet each week. We will schedule a lab session when by consensus we deem it necessary.

We will use two textbooks in this course:

Bloss, F.D., Optical Crystallography, Mineralogical Society of America Monograph 5.

Stoiber, R.E. and Morse, S.A., 1994, Crystal Identification with the Polarizing Microscope, Chapman and Hall.

The first part of the course will focus on the following topics:

Properties of Light

Refractometry

Isotropic Materials

Anisotropic Materials

Uniaxial Minerals

Biaxial Minerals

During the second part of the course we will use Pete Robinson’s famous collection of thin sections to examine in detail the optical properties of the major groups of rock-forming silicates.