thin section

Imaggeo on Mondays: A slice of fossil life

Bernardo Cesare February 11, 2019

Dinosaur Bone in Yellow. Credit: Bernardo Cesare (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

I am a petrographer at the University of Padova, Italy, studying the metamorphic rocks that form the deep Earth’s crust beneath our feet, and what happens when they get so hot to start to melt. I’ve spent (enjoyed I should say) more than 30 years looking at rocks with an optical microscope. This simple, cheap tool, and more importantly, its skilled use, remain key ingredients for good research in ...[Read More]

MinCup: Elevating humble minerals to new heights

Laura Roberts-Artal December 27, 2017

Olivine – the winner of #MinCup 2017. Credit: Hazel Gibson.

Throughout October and November, the world of (Earth science) Twitter was taken by storm: Day after day, Eddie Dempsey (a lecturer at the University of Hull, and @Tectonictweets for those of you more familair with his Twitter handle) pitted minerals against each other, in a knock out style popular contest. The aim? To see which mineral would eventually be crowned the best of 2017. Who knew fiery ( ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Electron cloud gone wrong

Laura Roberts-Artal September 7, 2015

Electron cloud gone wrong. Credit: Sarah Glynn (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Deciphering the past history of rocks and what they might reveal about the Earth’s future is a key part of geology, and tools such as Ion Probes can be used by Earth Scientists to extract valuable information about a rock’s past. Today’s Imaggeo on Monday’s image was acquired by Sarah Glynn, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, who was analysing a potential calcite ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Scope for science and art

Sara Mynott February 17, 2014

Great geoscience photographs aren’t always shots of beautiful landscapes. Sometimes there are stunning things to see at a much smaller scale. This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays showcases one such curiosity and highlights how research images can reveal a lot about the natural world when exhibited as a form of art. Thin sections are a fantastic way of finding out more about rocks, soils and tissue struc ...[Read More]