QuickTime Virtual Reality Objects
Petrographic Thin Sections

J Bret Bennington
Charles Merguerian

QTVR Objects are animations built from a sequence of still photos. An object movie can be advanced and reversed by clicking and dragging the cursor over the image. To create object movies of petrographic thin sections, we took digital photos using a petrographic microscope and camera while rotating thin sections through both plain and polarized light. Images were captured at 10° intervals. Some frames in each object movie are annotated with labels and color identifying the different minerals and mineralogical features shown in the thin sections. The resulting object movies allow the user to recreate the experience of rotating a petrographic thin section under a microscope, but with the enhancement of annotation. Object movies can be imported into Power Point (provided that QuickTime is the default media player) or viewed using the QuickTime player. The small movies are useful for previewing on the web. The large movies are high resolution, suitable for projecting in a classroom.

Diabase porphyry from Cape Ann, Essex County, MA.
Triassic-Jurassic
Wards Collection of American Rocks - No.38 (new)

Annotation showing mineral identifications in plain and polarized light.

Lg Object Movie (6 mb)
Sm Object Movie (1.8 mb)

Alkalic Granite from Quincy, Norfolk County, MA.
Mississippian
Wards Collection of American Rocks - No. 04 (new)

Annotation showing mineral identifications in plain and polarized light and Carlsbad twinning in plagioclase.

Lg Object Movie (6.5 mb)
Sm Object Movie (1.6 mb)

Annotation showing mineral identifications in polarized light.

Sm Object Movie (1.8 mb)

Dolomitic Limestone (grainstone with dolomitized cement)
Gasport Mmbr, Lockport Fm.
Lockport, Niagara County, NY
Silurian
Wards Collection of American Rocks - No. 66 (old)

Annotation showing mineral and bioclastic grain identifications (bryozoan and pelmatozoan) in plain and polarized light.

Lg Object Movie (7.6 mb)
Sm Object Movie (1.8 mb)

Quartz Conglomerate
Olean, Cattaraugus County, NY
Carboniferous
Wards Collection of American Rocks - No. 49 (old)

Annotation showing mineral identifications in plain and polarized light.

Lg Object Movie (5.6 mb)
Sm Object Movie (1.5 mb)

Orthopyroxene Granulite
Queens Water Tunnel,Queens County, NY
Proterozoic
Hofstra University Collection

Annotation showing mineral identifications in plain and polarized light; also illustrated are mineral reactions.

Lg Object Movie (7.1 mb)
Sm Object Movie (1.9 mb)

Manhattan Schist
Northern Manhattan, NY
Ordovician
Hofstra University Collection

Annotation showing mineral identifications in plain and polarized light and axial plane of fold.

Lg Object Movie (7.3 mb)
Sm Object Movie (2 mb)