Close-up microscopic view of a mineral or rock with iridescent, metallic, and crystalline textures in shades of pink, purple, gold, and black.

The Geology Hub - Hand-made thin sections on request service.

Geology Hub offers a unique and novel service, whereby individuals or institutions can request standard thin sections from a selection of hand specimens of various rock types that have been collected over the last 40 years. All rock specimens listed have a short description and location.

List of samples available for single sections or multiple sections as teaching sets

This image shows a detailed table listing various rocks and minerals, including their types, comments, and locations. The table includes entries for granite, marble, dolostone, serpentine, and many other geological samples with specific locations like France, the Isle of Skye, Cornwall, and RSA.

From hand sample to thin section, demonstrates how petrographic analysis can be used to determine rock type. Although the sample was unlabeled, observations of the hand specimen revealed a medium-grained crystalline igneous texture. Thin-section analysis under plane-polarized light (PPL) and cross-polars (XP) showed a well-developed porphyritic texture, indicating a two-stage cooling history. Petrographic examination also identified euhedral zoned clinopyroxene and olivine crystals within a melilite-rich groundmass, allowing the sample to be classified as a melilite-bearing lamprophyre.