Thin section collections

These lists and other information are for sample and thin section collections currently curated* by Kurt Hollocher, who put them together in one way or another**. The information here is freely available, but its main purpose is to help future Petrology and other courses in the Union College Department of Geosciences. The thin sections and samples will not generally be available outside of Union College, though I may entertain loans for research or teaching purposes.

Though the collections are separated into sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic, and field trips, the first three categories are only nominal. Many lithology-specific collections have some other rock types mixed in. For example, some igneous collections also have a few metamorphic rocks. I thought it better to keep originally coherent rock sets together, rather than dismembering them into specific rock types.This is a work in progress, there are lots more things for me to add.

Sedimentary rocks

Lists and descriptions (.xlsx)Ancillary information (.pdf)Eye candy
Sedimentary rock sectionsLindholm and Finkelman 1972 Carbonate stainingQuartz sandstone with three generations of cement: hematite outlining original grains, clear optically continuous quartz overgrowths, and illite clay. There is also a rounded zircon.

Igneous rocks

Lists and descriptions (.xlsx)Ancillary information (.pdf)Eye candy
Antarctica, McMurdo SoundAntarctica poster with these samplesLarge microcline phenocryst in Mt. Erebus lava, surrounded by obsidian flow bands.
IcelandJordan et al. 2019 field trip guidebookQuartz xenocryst in Iceland basalt lava, surrounded by a garland of augite crystals, the result of a reaction between quartz and the host magmatic liquid.
Kimberlites and a few other thingsPartly serpentinized olivine in kimberlite, surrounded by a mostly serpentine-carbonate matrix.
Komatiites, Ontario, CanadaKomatiite introduction
Arndt et al 1977		Olivine spinifex textures in komatiite from Ontario, Canada.
NE Massachusetts alkaline igneous rocksBrady et al 2014 MA north shore plutonic rocks
Hon et al 2007 NE Massachusetts
Ross 2014 Dike swarms on Cape Ann MA		Perthite crystals in a sodalite-nepheline syenite dike, Salem, Massachusetts
New Hampshire Magma seriesNew Hampshire Magma Series introductionMuscovite in plagioclase
Roman Volcanic Province, ItalyRoman Volcanic Province introductionRoman province alkaline ignimbrite
Skaergaard intrusion, GreenlandSkaergaard intrusion introductionMarginal border series gabbro, Skaergaard intrusion, Greenland.
Stillwater Complex, MontanaStillwater Complex introductionOrthopyroxene cumulate, with interstitial clinopyroxene hosting two generations of exsolution lamellae.
White Mountain Magma Series, New HampshireBothner and Gaudette 1971 Belknap Mountain Complex
Creasy 1986 White Mountain Batholith
Hussey and Brooks 2014 York Beach quadrangle Maine		Perthitic feldspar in the Moat Volcanics, White Mountain Batholith, New Hampshire.
Wooley Creek Batholith, CaliforniaWooley Creek Batholith introductionZoned hornblende in granodiorite.
Yellowstone National ParkSpherulites in colorless obsidian glass in a rhyolite lava.

Metamorphic rocks

Lists and descriptions (.xlsx)Ancillary information (.pdf)Eye candy
Blueschists and Eclogites, CaliforniaPurple and blue glaucophane, with green omphacite, pinkish garnet, and colorless quartz, white mica, titanite, and aragonite.

Field trips

Lists and descriptions (.xlsx)Ancillary information (.pdf)Eye candy
International Mineralogical Association trip, New England, 1986IMA 1986 field trip guidebookStaurolite crystal in fine-grained schist, with inclusion trails.
J.B. Thompson field trip, New England, 1990J.B. Thompson 1990 field trip guidebookCoarse, parallel sillimanite rods with tangled fibrous sillimanite and biotite. The parallel rods probably originally replaced andalusite.
NEGSA 2014 trip SE Pennsylvania and N DelawareBosbyshell et al 2014Sillimanite included in and wrapping around a garnet in biotite schist.
NEIGC 1984 east-central New England field trip sectionsBothner et al 1984 B5 Massabesic area field trip
Eudsen et al 1984 C5 Berwick area field trip
Hill et al 1984 A5 Nashoba block field trip		Staurolite associated with andalusite and retrograde muscovite
NEIGC 1994 trip to north-central MaineHanson 1994 NEIGC trip A3
Neuman and Rankin 1994 NEIGC trip B4/B5
Rankin 1994 NEIGC trip B4		Black Cat member of the Traveler Rhyolite, North-central central Maine.
NEIGC 2003 trip to central MassachusettsBerry 2003 Central Mass trip B2
Robinson 2003 NEIGC cantral Mass trip A1		Little nest of staruolite, kyanite, and tourmaline in a muscovite-biotite schist.
NEIGC 2011 Eastern Adirondacks, NYMcLelland et al 2011Small area of plagioclase-Cpx intergrowth between hornblende and large plagiolcase crystals in a corona gabbro.
Newfoundland CollectionGarver 1991 Newfoundland field trip guidebookDunnage melange, Newfoundland, showing deformed siltstone and shale.
NYSGA 1985 South and east AdirondacksMcLelland 1985
Whitney 1985		Small fault cutting Opx-bearing tonalitic gneiss.
Teaching Mineralogy Workshop (TMW) 1996 Vermont and AdirondacksBrady and Cheney 1996 TMW workshop tripGrid-twinned staurolite in cross-polarized light.

* Mostly because I’m the only one who cares about them. I love thin sections. They are such eye-opening, sparkling beauties. Except for shales and hydrothermally altered rocks, which are wretched messes.

** Field trips are often confusing and distracting, with all the people, noise, weather, and mumbling, far away trip leaders, not to mention the rocks to look at. In some cases sample locations are not known to me, and I have no doubt that some field trip stops on sample numbers are also wrong. Getting sample numbers wrong is something I am good at. It’s sort of my super power.