GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Calcite can be identified in thin section by its rhombohedral cleavage and very high interference colors (often so high as to appear almost white, superficially similar to a low interference color but with little rainbow flashes of color here and there in the mineral).

Detailed explanation-2: -In hand sample, calcite can be distinguished by its rhombohedral cleavage and, if the sample is translucent enough, its double refraction. In thin section, calcite can be distinguished by its parallel extinction.

Detailed explanation-3: -The skeletal parts of organisms are commonly composed of calcite, magnesian calcite, aragonite or opaline silica.

Detailed explanation-4: -In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section (or petrographic thin section) is a thin slice of a rock or mineral sample, prepared in a laboratory, for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope, electron microscope and electron microprobe.