2.3 History of Thin Section Preparation

Elizabeth Johnson; Juhong Christie Liu

2.3 History of Thin Section Preparation

Elizabeth Johnson and Juhong Christie Liu

Figure 2.3.1. Steinmann’s section cutting machine excerpted from Johannsen, A. p.576.

The first thin sections were created in the early- to mid- nineteenth century. In this section, we explore some of the primary literature to learn about historical methods for creating thin sections.

Learning Objectives

Summarize the history of thin section preparation in the geosciences.

Prior Knowledge and Skills

2.1 Overview of thin sections and thick sections (recommended)

Key Terms

None

Guided Inquiry

Please read over the references listed at the end of this section before attempting to answer the guided inquiry questions. All but one (Keyes 1925) are accessible for free online. Please note that the references are listed in alphabetical order, not in chronological order.

2.3.1 When were the first thin sections made? Do Holmes and Johannsen agree on the exact history of the technique?

2.3.2 Compare the method of Sorby to the method of Holmes or Johannsen. How are the procedures the same? How are they different?

2.3.3 How is the equipment described in Sorby, different from the equipment described by Keyes or Reed and Mergner?

2.3.4 Compare the writing styles of the authors – how are the articles different from each other? Why do you think this is the case?

Figure 2.3.2: Hand section grinding machine excerpted from Johannsen, A. p.590.

Concept Check

2.3.1. If thin section making is such an “old technology,” why do you think we continue to prepare and analyze thin sections in much the same way today?

References

Holmes, Arthur (1923), Chapter VI. Preparation of thin sections. Petrographic methods and calculations, London, Thomas Murby & Co, Pt. 2, 231-249.

Permanent link to book: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433090759980
Permanent link to Chapter IV. Preparation of thin sections (p. 231): https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433090759980?urlappend=%3Bseq=257
Arthur Holmes is a giant in the world of geology – he made important contributions to determining the age of Earth and developing our understanding of plate tectonics. Article from GSA today: Arthur Holmes

Johannsen, Albert (1918), Chapter XLI. Preparation of thin sections of rocks. Manual of petrographic methods, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co.2d ed., p.572-60.

Google books: https://books.google.com/books?id=WdlLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA572#v=onepage&q&f=false
University of Michigan: https://archive.org/details/manualpetrograp00johagoog
Memorial of Albert Johannsen : http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM48/AM48_454.pdf

Keyes, Mary G. (1925) Making thin sections of rocks. Am J Sci, Series 5, Vol. 10:538-550; doi:10.2475/ajs.s5-10.60.538.

Available here: http://www.ajsonline.org/content/s5-10/60/538.full.pdf This is American Journal of Science, which is copyrighted. This article requires subscription access through your university library, or you can use interlibrary loan to request it from another library.
It would be great to find out more about Mary Keyes. I asked the librarians at the Geophysical Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington, and at the USGS in Reston and Denver, for help. No one was able to track down additional information.
After searching through government documents, I did come across a US Department of Agriculture technical bulletin from 1942 listing a Mary G. Keyes as a Scientific Aide at the Division of Soil Chemistry and Physics. https://books.google.com/books?id=v_f5hdlkSwYC&lpg=RA13-PP1&dq=mary%20keyes%20washington%20dc%20chemist&pg=RA13-PP1#v=onepage&q=mary%20keyes%20washington%20dc%20chemist&f=false

Figure 2.3.3: Title page of a Department of Agriculture report co-authored by Mary G. Keyes in 1942.

Perhaps she had a long and productive career as a geochemist and laboratory scientist in various government laboratories.
The introduction for this paper is written by Henry Washington from the Geophysical Laboratory whose character and career is well documented (https://gl-history.carnegiescience.edu/henry-stephens-washington).

Reed, Frank S. and Mergner, John L. (1953) Preparation of rock thin sections. American Mineralogist, 38, 1184-1203.

Download from table of contents of American Mineralogist: http://www.minsocam.org/msa/collectors_corner/amtoc/toc1953.htm
Direct link to article: http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM38/AM38_1184.pdf
Reed and Mergner, authors of the USGS paper, have a mineral, reedmergnerite, named after them (http://rruff.info/uploads/AM40_326.pdf ) see Milton C, Axelrod J M, Grimaldi F S (1955) New minerals, reedmergnerite (Na₂O·B₂O₃6SiO₂) and eitelite (Na₂O·MgO·2CO₂) associated with leucosphenite, shortite, searlesite, and crocidolite in the Green River formation, Utah, American Mineralogist, 40, 326-327.

Sorby, H. C. (1882), Preparation of transparent sections of rocks and minerals: Northern Microscopist, London, 2, 18, 133-140.

Google books: https://books.google.com/books?id=SSEuAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA137&ots=HC_mzilx2-&dq=Preparation%20of%20transparent%20sections%20of%20rocks%20and%20minerals%3A%20Northern%20Microscopist&pg=PA133#v=onepage&q&f=false .

Figure 2.3.4: An illustration of a volcanic rock in thin section by Vogelsang: Mikrolitconcretion aus der Lava von Cisterna am Vesuv.

Vogelsang, H. (1867), Philosophie der geologic und mikroscopische Gesteinsstudien, Bonn. 225-228.

At HathiTrust: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4175766
Google books: https://books.google.com/books?id=8QT_eXtdyzkC&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false
A biography of Hermann Vogelsang: Touret, Jacques L.R. (2004) Hermann Vogelsang (1838-1894), “Europeen avant la lettre.” In Touret, J.L.R. and Visser, R.P.W. (Eds): Dutch Pionneers of the Earth Sciences. Kon. Nederl. Akad. Wetensch., Amsterdam, 197 p. (cf. pp.87-108). at http://www.annales.org/archives/cofrhigeo/vogelsang.pdf It includes a couple of his spectacular thin section sketches.
Vogelsang and Zirkel (below) were brothers-in-law (Young, Davis A. (2003), Mind over Magma, Princeton University Press, 712p.).

Zirkel, Ferdinand (1873) Präparation der Objecte. Die Mikroskopische Beschaffenheit der Mineralien und Gestiene. Leipzig, Werlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, p. 6.