A new practical and economical technique for the obtention of high quality thin section photographs with the help of a simple optical microscope

Abstract

Microscopic study is an indispensable step in the determination of the petrographic characteristics of rocks. In Cameroon just like in most developing countries, simple polarizing microscopes of the 20th Century constitute the only available material for macroscopic studies. A major difficulty encountered in the use of these instruments resides in the realisation of photographs of the different parts of the thin section that require illustrations. The technique that has been used upto now has been inefficient and unsatisfactory. Faced with this recurrent situation, we thought of setting up a new, semi-modern, practical and very economical technique for photographing the thin section.