Examination of thin sections under the microscope is a key part of any study of carbonate sediments, as a companion to field or core logging, and as a necessary precursor to geochemical analysis. This book is designed as a laboratory manual to keep beside the microscope as an aid to identifying grain types and textures in carbonates.

Optical microscopy of metallic ores, based on the polarising reflected light microscope and initially known as mineragraphy, developed rapidly in the second half of the last century. It has become an indispensable tool for the study and beneficiation of mineral deposits and, in many cases, the technique par excellence for metallogenic research, to such an extent that the optical reflection microscope came to be known as the metallogenic microscope.

In nature, minerals are usually found in association, forming rocks. Ores are no exception: they are almost always composed of different species, forming intergrowths. The study, description and interpretation of these intergrowths is the objective of textural analysis and is very important for mineralogy, both from a scientific point of view (e.g. mineral genesis) and for a practical approach (e.g. mining exploration and minerallurgy).

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...>

This book is intended for use in an introductory optical mineralogy course. The objective in preparing the book was to present in a single volume of reasonable size both a thorough treatment of optical theory as it pertains to mineral identification with the petrographic microscope, and detailed mineral descriptions of the common rock-forming minerais. The first seven chapters <leal with optical theory and provide an introduction to the properties oflight, a description of the petrographic microscope, and a discussion of the optical properties of isotropic and anisotropic materiais. Detailed step-by-step procedures have been included to guide students through the measurement of optical properties in both thin section and grain mount. Selected spindle stage techniques also are included. <...>

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...> 

Geomaterials are defined as ‘processed or unprocessed soils, rocks or minerals used in the construction of buildings or structures, including man-made construction materials manufactured from soils, rocks or minerals’ (Fookes, 1991). The definition deliberately includes manmade materials such as bricks or cement but excludes allied engineering materials whose manufacturing is more extensive, such as steel and synthetic paints.

Ф.Чейз — видный американский петрограф — посвятил свою работу методике количественных минералогических анализов горных пород. В книге с использованием несложных выводов математической статистики разбирается ход производства минералогических анализов пород с различной крупностью зерна и с разной текстурой. Книга, несмотря на небольшой объем, насыщена фактическим материалом - прежде всего данными специальных экспериментальных исследований автора. Использованы также выводы наиболее компетентных минералогов-петрографов.
Книга рассчитана на студентов старших курсов высших геологических учебных заведений, преподавателей петрографии и минералогии, специалистов петрографов и минералогов.

В нижеследующем приведены результаты микроскопического исследования пород, полученных мною для петрографической обработки от А.А. Стоянова. Все эти породы объединены общим происхождением пз различных мест западной части Западно-Карабахского хребта. Словесно переданные мне А. А. Стояновым сведения об условиях залегания, возрасте и месте нахождения каждой породы приводятся при описании каждого отдельного образца. Для удобства, в связи с работой А.А. Стоянова, обзора пород, описание последних произведено не по группам, а по отдельным местностям. <...>

Развитие и усовершенствование методов определения рудных минералов и собирание данных относительно этих минералов были предметом занятий автора настоящей книги в течение более чем четырех лет. Большая часть этой работы проделывалась в лабораториях U. S. Geological Survey (Геологический комитет СШ) с перерывом от сентября 1927 до июля 1928 г., когда автор состоял лектором прикладной геологии в Харвардском университете и работа его шла на средства .Харвардской лаборатории прикладной геологии.