A piece of the mantle: a spinel lherzolite xenolith from the Canadian Cordillera. Clear olivine, brown orthopyroxene, bright green chromian clinopyroxene and opaque (black) spinel. Plane polarized light, it's a bit thicker than standard. The mantle is beautiful. #thinSectionThursday #xenolith #mantle #geology

An intruder appeared while doing #Raman spectroscopy on submarine volcanic tephra... a #foraminifera! #ThinSectionThursday

RT @Subsolum
#ThinSectionThursday
A lilttle rabbit head 🐰in a OF horizon of a #Moder #Humipedon

Here's a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of #bone showing mineralized #collagen and an #osteocyte lacuna containing microcalcifications of #apatite and #whitlockite.

Such #calcification or #mineral formation is part of normal physiological processes such as #apoptosis but can also indicate #pathology.

The specimen was prepared using focussed ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM).

Read more:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02888

#ThinSectionThursday #Biomaterials #ElectronMicroscopy

#ThinSectionThursday Here's a wonderful rock (garnet-scapolite pyroxenite, with feathery symplectite intergrowths around the garnets) from the Lewisian metamorphic complex in South Harris, in both plane polarized light, and between crosed polars. The field of view is about 2mm. See ALT text for detailed image descriptions. #Lewisian #Metamorphic #Rocks #Minerals.

For #ThinSectionThursday, I present the NWA 4723 meteorite.

NWA 4723 is the official Meteoritical Bulletin catalog name for a single large L3 chondrite stone recovered from the Saharan Desert in Morocco prior to 2006.

Photo shows a close-up of a single chondrule-like structure. It's unusual appearance resembles a face of some kind. What do you see?

#meteorite #meteorites #meteoritics #PlanetaryScience #geology #thinsection #petrology

RT @LEW999
Continuing on the week's #seaturtle theme with a teaser for tomorrow's paper drop, check out the change in growth strategies between the derived protostegid sea turtle Protostega (first picture), and the more basal protostegid Desmatocheyls (second picture). #ThinSectionThursday

For #ThinSectionThursday, I present the NWA 4910 #meteorite, also known as the "Begaa" meteorite.

This meteorite was recovered from the Sahara near Begaa Morocco in 1999. It was analyzed and officially classified as a LL3.1 chondrite. It is rich in chondrules of all types.

Photo credit : Unknown. Reply or DM for credit or removal.

#PlanetaryScience #Meteoritics #GeologyRocks #SpaceRocks #ThinSection

A plane-polarized light image of the Apollo 17 orange glass (sample 74220). The high-titanium glass spheres are 50-100 microns in size. These were magmas erupted as a 'fire fountain' on the mare basalt surface.

This sample was part of a collection of lunar sections that NASA lent to educational institutions in the US for teaching.
#thinsectionThursday #Apollo17 #Moon

For #ThinSectionThursday, I present the Jepara #meteorite.

The Jepara meteorite was found buried in mud during excavations in Java Indonesia in May 2008.

It is a #pallasite type of meteorite composed of iron and olivine. It was heavily oxidized and the iron rusted away, leaving behind a web of olivine (peridot) crystals. Jepara is known for it's unusual appearance compared to other pallasites.

Photo credit : Unknown. DM or reply for credit or removal.

#planetaryscience #geology

#ThinSectionThursday Plane polarized (left) and cross-polarized light images of a mantle xenolith from Alligator Lake, #Yukon. It's a harzburgite with an equigranular mosaic texture. The main mineral is olivine. Sampled by D. Francis and S. Lang; imaged by A. Gonzalez. #mantle #geology #McGillUniversity

#ThinSectionThursday A vision of volcanic loveliness 🌋 🥰 in this porphyritic phonolite from the Canary Islands. Big crystals of sodium-rich amphibole, Na-Fe clinopyroxene titanite, apatite, nepheline, and zircon, in a finer-grained groundmass mostly of sanidine feldspar. Field of view ca. 2mm wide. #Geology #IgneousPetrology #Microscopy

For #ThinSectionThursday, I present the Dhofar 535 #meteorite.

It was recovered from the remote Omani desert in Jan 2000. At first glance, it looks like a chondrule-rich ordinary chondrite.

In fact, it is classified as an ungrouped chondrite because it has anomalous chemistry. It has affinities to the LL and R groups of chondrites, but fits neatly into neither.

Photo credit : Unknown. Reply or DM for credit or removal.

#PlanetaryScience #Geology #meteorites #GeologyRocks

I really like the hashtag follow feature. I especially like the dailies:

#SilentSunday
#MosaicMonday
#TurtleTuesday
#WaterfallWednesday #WednesNeigh
#ThinSectionThursday
(no Friday yet, follow Friday doesn't count)
#RomanSiteSaturday

#ThinSectionThursday Perhaps my favourite rock 😍 Sample U5A17 from my PhD fieldwork collected from Unit 5 of the Eastern Layered Intrusion in Rum a long time ago. Blue and green crystals of olivine enclosed in buff-coloured clinopyroxene, and striped plagioclase. Cross-polars illumination. Field of view 2mm across. #Microscopy #IsleOfRum #Geology #Igenous

For #ThinSectionThursday I present the NWA 1950 Martian #meteorite.

The NWA 1950 meteorite was recovered from the Atlas mountains of Morocco in 2001. It was analyzed by French scientists and classified as a "lherzolitic shergottite" of Martian origin.

Photo credit : Unknown, reply or DM for credit or removal.

#PlanetaryScience #meteoritics #GeologyRocks #SpaceRocks

#HappyChristmas A microscopic Xmas tree in this thin section of glassy pitchstone from Cir Mhor, on Arran, The "trunks" are crystals of Fe-rich amphibole, and the branches are dendritic overgrowths of biotite. #ThinSectionThursday #WorldsWithinWorlds #Microscopy

For #ThinSectionThursday I present the Kapoeta #meteorite.

On April 22, 1942, a single large meteorite fell on a road in a remote area of the Sudanese desert. Analysis shows it is a #howardite type that originates from the asteroid 4 Vesta. Howardites represent the upper-most "top soil" layer of the asteroid - regolith and xenolithic clasts that are remnants of foreign impactors.

Photo Credit : Unknown. DM for credit or removal.

#PlanetaryScience #ThinSection #Geology #GalacticStone #Space

For #ThinSectionThursday I present the Kapoeta #meteorite.

On April 22, 1942, a single large meteorite fell on a road in a remote area of the Sudanese desert. Analysis shows it is a #howardite type that originates from the asteroid 4 Vesta. Howardites represent the upper-most "top soil" layer of the asteroid - regolith and xenolithic clasts that are remnants of foreign impactors.

Photo Credit : Unknown. DM for credit or removal.

#PlanetaryScience #ThinSection #Geology #GalacticStone #Space

In honor of finishing my grading for the Fall semester and officially starting #sabbatical here's some more beautiful #clinopyroxene for #ThinSectionThursday from a very weird intraplate #volcano... Bermuda! (Also, my department just got a new camera for our petrography lab and it's so much nicer than what we previously had.)