Mapua Institute of Technology

School of Civil, Environmental, and Geological Engineering

GEO125L

PETROGRAPHY LABORATORY

Laboratory Exercise No. 4

Textures of Plutonic Rocks

TITLE

Submitted by:
Marquez, Roni C.
GSE-3/ 2012101346
Group No. 1

Submitted to:
Prof. Jocelyn C. Villanueva
INSTRUCTOR

03 February 2016

SAMPLE MARK:
The illustrations below all belong to the same thin section specimen
Petrographic Microscope set-up
Ocular magnification: 10x
Objective lens magnification: 4x
1

Figure 1. A portion of the thin

section specimen in Plane
Polarized Lght

[ 1- Plagioclase; 2- Augite; 3Olivine ]

2
3

Figure 2. A portion of the thin

section specimen in Cross
Polarized Light

SAMPLE MARK:
ROCK NAME: Olivine Gabbro
The specimen of plutonic rock are composed mostly of
anhedral minerals and displays a xenomorphic granular texture.
It is made up of intergrowths of olivine, augite, and plagioclase
grains.
The olivine grains present in the sample appear like pale yellow
broken fragments in thin section. The other mineral present in the
sample is augite. It occurs as pale brown anhedral crystals with
no pleochroism. It exhibits a second to third order birefringence.
Both olivine and augite have high positive relief. The plagioclase
crystals in the sample are anhedral, but show very distinct
twinning under crossed polars. However, they only appear
transparent and has a low positive relief under plane polarized
light. They also have low birefringence. Generally, there are no
alterations observed in the sample.
Paragenesis:
The sample may have originated from a mafic/ ultramafic
magma since it is composed of dark and dense minerals. The
magma underwent a slow and gradual cooling which permitted
the growth of coarse grains. However, there might have been an
external factor which prevented the crystals to grow distinct
sides/ edges which resulted to a xenomorphic granular texture.
Primary Minerals (%)
Olivine
25
Augite
40
Plagioclase 35

Grain sizes of clasts (in general)

Olivine: 0.645mm
Augite: 0.566mm
Plagioclase: 0.605 mm

0.5

1.0

1.5 mm