[meteorite-list] Thin section preperation and comments

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:54 2004
Message-ID: <094e01c412ee$a0496ee0$ad971018_at_attbi.com>

Dear Dean and List,

Not that I want to argue with you Dean but I feel the need to comment since
you took it upon yourself to comment off-topic and make claims that are not
consistent. The following are my observations on a few of your thin-section
offerings currently running on ebay.


Looks kind of thick for Murchison, most modern preparation laboratories us
quartz crystals for calibration embedded along the outer perimeter of the
specimen.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2234626282&category=3239

Cut uneven with material hanging over the edge. Note that it is light on
one side and dark on the other, a sign of even polishing. Will not fit in a
multi-slide microprobe jig without first being trimmed:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2234742429&category=3239

Ground down to the glass on the left side or the slide was not frosted first
so material was plucked during polishing due to lack of cohesion. This
would look like a mountain range under a microprobe:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2234633180&category=3239

I do not believe there is a laboratory that would endorse this kind of work.
On the flip side it is very difficult to produce consistent thin-sections
but there are shops that do it on a regular basis. I am sure these would be
very enjoyable to explore under a microscope but I do not think they are
microprobe ready. Basically, You get what you pay for.

Adam
Received on Thu 25 Mar 2004 11:55:56 PM PST