Pyrite Thin Section

Euhedral crystals also known as idiomorphic or automorphic crystals are those that are well formed with sharp easily recognised faces the opposite is anhedral also known as xenomorphic or allotriomorphic.

Pyrite thin section. Giant kidd creek volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit western abitibi subprovince timmins ontario canada. A little careful testing will help you avoid the fool s gold problem. Ppl image 10x field of view 2mm pyrite crystal triangular and square.

Pyrite in thin section like every other metallic mineral pyrite is just opaque and black in thin section. Sesia lanzo zone piedmont italian alps. In order to enhance pyrite textures in thin sections some sections were etched with concentrated hno3for about 30 seconds.

Sphalerite in hand sample. Ppl image 10x field of view 2mm pyrite crystal triangular section. Polished thin section plane polarized light oil 125 μm this is the same field of view as previous section but with partially crossed polars.

Pyrite is brittle and thin pieces will break with pin pressure. Ppl image 10x field of view 2mm pyrite crystals. However unlike most other metallic minerals it can often be identified as pyrite by its cubic shape.

Sesia lanzo zone piedmont italian alps. Polished section ppl showing crystalline aggregate of arsenopyrite asp in massive sphalerite sp typical of the main sphalerite lens. Three small hand samples sphalerite on fossiliferous chert.

The strong anisotropy of heazlewoodite blush pink and blue grey and extreme anisotropy of millerite golden yellow to deep blue are visible. Sphalerite in plane polars. Polished as well as broken portions of thin section blocks were also examined by scanning electron microscope secondary electron images.