Thin Sections: The Past Serving The Future
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1684
Special Issue Editors
Interests: archaeometry; crystallography; magnetism; petrography; physical–chemical characterization; X-ray microdiffraction; Raman microscopy (RM); magnetic nanoparticles; 3D-printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: archaeometry; petrography of archaeological materials; pottery; glazes; marbles; X-ray microdiffraction; Raman microscopy (RM)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The introduction of thin-section (~30 μm in thickness) samples to mineralogical studies occurred alongside the development of the petrographic microscope in the mid-19th century. In optical mineralogy and petrography, the use of the polished thin sections is very common within the study of a wide variety of materials, including rocks, minerals, soils, slag, mudbrick, and clays. However, in some scientific circles both thin sections and the petrographic microscope are sometimes perceived as archaic tools, not yet fully obsolete but far from cutting-edge science.
Tools of the past? Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the last ten years, the use of thin sections in combination with hyper-spectral elemental, molecular, and structural methods has revealed new ways of examining samples. The capabilities of these techniques can be significantly improved when combined with thin sections. The use of thin-section enhances data quality with easier correlations between data produced by different techniques and improved control over measured sample regions. Other sample supports such as cross-sections are easier to produce, but it is often difficult to see what is being measured.
Originating in the early to mid-19th century and specifically used to investigate rocks in the field of geosciences, thin sections are a sample support that can be applied in many other fields, artistic (stone, ceramics, wood, pigments), construction (concrete, mortar), and technological among others. In this Special Issue, we will collate papers that demonstrate, in a wide variety of contexts and domains, the versatility and usefulness of thin sections in characterizing natural or artificial crystalline materials. We are particularly interested in combinations of this sample support with local probe analytical equipment.
Dr. Lluís Casas
Dr. Roberta Di Febo
Guest Editors
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