Product Description

Covering theory and practical matters, this wide-ranging introductory textbook for students in the Earth sciences covers not only translucent but also opaque minerals, thereby bridging an artificial divide and embracing minerals important in

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #316727 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Gribble; Colin D ,

Customer Reviews

very good book, basics to complicated stuff
this is a very good book for anyone starting out on optical mineralogy. it includes all the basics of setting up your microscope plus a bit more technical stuff on how and why all the minerals are different under PPL and XPL. the most useful thing is the break down for each mineral:
-colour (PPL)
-Habit
-cleavage
-relief
-alteration
-Birefringence
-extinction
-interference figure
- other features

Also included with most minerals is a diagram of the crystal structure, and also pressure temperature diagrams for polymorphs (e.g. silicates)
there are some photographs of minerals but most are diagrams. if you want more pictures i would suggest: A Colour Atlas of Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section by W. S. Mackenzie and A. E. Adams. my lab partner has this and the two books together really work well(shame they couldn't be combined).

the Birefringence chart on the back cover is always handy to (if a little small sometimes).