During the past two to three decades, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has become established as an essential tool in the study of sedimentary rocks, sediments, and soils. It provides a useful complement to the traditional role of the petrographic microscope, which became popular after the pioneering work of Henry Clifton Sorby in the second half of the nineteenth century (Sorby, 1877a,b, 1878).

Advances in nanotechnology over the past decade have made scanning electron microscopy (SEM) an indispensable and powerful tool for analyzing and constructing new nanomaterials. Development of nanomaterials requires advanced techniques and skills to attain higher quality images, understand nanostructures, and improve synthesis strategies.

I am indebted to many colleagues and former students for valuable suggestions and discussions and for having provided thin sections or images. I thank PD Dr. Afifé El Kohr (University of Fribourg) for reading all chapters and suggesting important improvements in the text and the figures. I thank Dr. Florence Bégué (University of Geneva) for reading and improving remarks on various chapters. Special thanks for commenting on various drafts are due to Prof. Richard Bevins (Natural Museum of Wales), Sam Carmalt (University of Geneva), Dr. William Cannon (US Geological Survey), and Dr. Kenneth M. Towe (Smithonian Institute, Washington).

Области применения микроскопа с каждым годом расширяются, и число специалистов, пользующихся микроскопом для своих технических и научных исследований, быстро растёт. Среди них физиков, а тем более оптиков, мало; большинство из них слабо представляет себе, как работает микроскоп, тем более, что теория изображения через этот прибор очень сложная и мало доступная широким кругам наблюдателей <...>

Examination of thin sections under the microscope is a key part of any study of carbonate sediments, as a companion to field or core logging, and as a necessary precursor to geochemical analysis. This book is designed as a laboratory manual to keep beside the microscope as an aid to identifying grain types and textures in carbonates.

Optical microscopy of metallic ores, based on the polarising reflected light microscope and initially known as mineragraphy, developed rapidly in the second half of the last century. It has become an indispensable tool for the study and beneficiation of mineral deposits and, in many cases, the technique par excellence for metallogenic research, to such an extent that the optical reflection microscope came to be known as the metallogenic microscope.

In nature, minerals are usually found in association, forming rocks. Ores are no exception: they are almost always composed of different species, forming intergrowths. The study, description and interpretation of these intergrowths is the objective of textural analysis and is very important for mineralogy, both from a scientific point of view (e.g. mineral genesis) and for a practical approach (e.g. mining exploration and minerallurgy).

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...>

This book is intended for use in an introductory optical mineralogy course. The objective in preparing the book was to present in a single volume of reasonable size both a thorough treatment of optical theory as it pertains to mineral identification with the petrographic microscope, and detailed mineral descriptions of the common rock-forming minerais. The first seven chapters <leal with optical theory and provide an introduction to the properties oflight, a description of the petrographic microscope, and a discussion of the optical properties of isotropic and anisotropic materiais. Detailed step-by-step procedures have been included to guide students through the measurement of optical properties in both thin section and grain mount. Selected spindle stage techniques also are included. <...>

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...>