Minerals Under the Microscope

The microscope is a fundamental tool that is used in many branches of the Earth Sciences. When a slice of a rock is mounted on a glass slide and thinned, it is possible to see through many minerals and observe their optical properties. The information obtained allows the identification of minerals to be made, and combined with textural information that can also be obtained from thin sections, it is possible to build up a picture of the geological history of a rock. This multi-touch book contains a collection of 26 minerals that can be viewed as if they were under a polarising microscope. Each virtual microscope is accompanied with text descriptions, illustrations and fully interactive 3D models. The collection contains many common rock-forming minerals as well as some exotic species.