Eclogite from Norway - full thin section

Click on image to enlarge.          Specimen: Oliver Pluemper; Photo: Dan Snyder

Full thin section of eclogite from western Norway. Darkest (opaque) shapes are garnet; large brown mass at upper left is orthopyroxene; pale yellow and light brown grains at left and upper right are mostly clinopyroxene; gray, black and white grains at lower right and lower center are quartz. Macrophotograph in XPL. Imaged area 22mm by 43mm.

See post of June 14, 2012 for detailed description of rock and higher-magnification photomicrographs.

Many thanks to Oliver Pluemper of the University of Oslo for the specimen.

Eclogite pebble fragment

Click on image to enlarge.          Specimen: Michael Davis; Photo: Dan Snyder

A slice through a small eclogite pebble from San Onofre breccia. Red and brown garnet with green pyroxene. Thanks to Distinguished Professor Michael Davis, University of California - Riverside, for the specimen. Found as beach rock, Camp Pendleton (USMC), California. Optical scan of sawed surface. Long dimension of imaged area 33 mm.

Click on image to enlarge.          Photo: Dan Snyder

Reflected-light photomicrograph of a small portion of the above sample. 2x objective. Imaged area 2.7mm by 4mm.

Click on image to enlarge.          Photo: Dan Snyder

Higher-magnification image of left center of previous image. Subhedral pyroxene grains visible at right of large garnet grain. Black grains are rutile, a common accessory in eclogite. Reflected-light photomicrograph. 4x objective. Imaged area 1.3mm by 2mm.

Click on image to enlarge.         Photo: Dan Snyder

Photomicrograph of part of thin section of same specimen at same scale as previous image. Black forms are garnet grains, brightly colored grains are pyroxene. Note many inclusions in garnet. Beige triangular grain at right is amphibole. XPL. Imaged area 1.3mm by 2mm.