petrography

The science of petrography is largely based on the study of the appearance of thin, transparent sections of rocks in a microscope fitted with polarizers. In the absence of external crystalline form, as with the minerals in a rock, a mineral often may be readily identified by the…

…subdisciplines of experimental petrology and petrography. Experimental petrology involves the laboratory synthesis of rocks for the purpose of ascertaining the physical and chemical conditions under which rock formation occurs. Petrography is the study of rocks in thin section by means of a petrographic microscope (i.e., an instrument that employs polarized…