Cassiterite
Collection:
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope

Fact sheet

Cassiterite

Silvery grey cassiterite associated with zoned quartz.

About this collection

This small demonstration collection contains metalliferous ore minerals mounted in polished resin blocks rather than thin sections used for rocks in our other collections.

Polished ore minerals exhibit a range of colours and textures in reflected light (they are also commonly studied using scanning electron microscopes and electron microprobe). Metalliferous ores are studied under the microscope to understand their formation, and because of their commercial and strategic value. For a much more detailed explanation, try this open access book.

Ore microscopy and ore petrography

by J.R. Craig and D.J. Vaughan

 

Sample details

Collection: Metalliferous Ores
Type
mineral
Category
ore
Rock-forming mineral
cassiterite
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: