Preparation of Thin and Polished Sections
－World's Highest Quality－

Last Updated : April 9, 2021

　Preparation of thin and polished sections, which provide various types of information about the Earth, requires not only technical accuracy. What is also vital is the knowledge gained through experience—in other words, the ability to anticipate potential damage during the process and to take precautions against it. The quality of the thin and polished sections prepared by skilled technicians from the Geological Survey of Japan, whose intuition and knowledge have been cultivated through long experience, is among the world’s best—better than can ever be achieved by automated machinery.

Craftspersonship supports the latest geological research

　We are continually trying to improve our techniques so as to flexibility cope with a variety of specimens. For example, imogolite, a clay mineral first described half a century ago, has been considered impossible to be prepared as a thin section. For the first time in the world, we have successfully developed a technique to make thin sections of this material, enabling observation and analysis under in situ conditions.
　We can now make high-quality thin and polished sections from almost any geological material, including rocks containing minerals with extreme differences in hardness, shapeless samples such as sludge, and heat-sensitive samples. The technical training and supports are also provided to other thin-section technicians, both in Japan and around the world.

Thin-section production (Photo by YASUTOMO Yasuhiro/GSJ)

Optical micrograph of soil samples including imogolite (yellow areas)