March 26, 2012

Monday Geology Picture: Serpentinized Harzburgite in Thin Section

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

For this week’s Monday Geology Picture, I thought I would share a picture of peridotite in thin section viewed under a microscope. This particular  peridotite originates from the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman, and is a weakly-deformed harzburgite that is ~40% serpentinized. You can see the fine network of serpentine veins throughout the sample. The brightly-colored patches are olivine and pyroxene minerals. I really enjoy looking at rocks in thin section– rocks can be so beautiful in thin section, particularly when viewed under cross-polarized light.

In other news, the defendable draft of my PhD thesis is due on Friday, so blogging (aside from posting cat pictures on Geokittehs) will continue to be light.

Serpentinized harzburgite in thin section, plane polarized light.1 mm scalebar

Serpentinized harzburgite in thin section, cross polarized light. 1 mm scalebar.