Texture

Abstract

The word’ texture’ refers to the detailed structure and makeup of all kinds of materials, such as textile, rocks and many others. The pictures in this chapter illustrate that textures in minerals and rocks are very diverse and may be formed by a variety of processes, like crystallization and sedimentation, but also through pressure, deformation or geochemical processes. Many pictures in this paragraph are of ’thin sections’, wafer-thin (10 to 40 micron) slices of rock, which are glued on to glass and prepared with special skill.Thin sections are one of the fundamental means for analyzing rocks and minerals, and geologists routinely examine them with a polarizing microscope. The inspection is carried out with the help of various optical means and with transmitted light that may or may not be polarized. When the light is polarized, crystals often take on striking colors, due to birefringence of the light beams.