TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual Petrographic Microscope
T2 - a multi-platform education and research software tool to analyse rock thin-sections
AU - Tetley, M. G.
AU - Daczko, N. R.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - We present a free, standalone Windows and Mac OSX desktop software tool designed to aid geoscience researchers, students and educators in rock thin-section analysis without the need for a petrographic microscope. Virtual Petrographic Microscope (VPM) allows a user to analyse prepared high-resolution images of rock thin-sections on a computer using traditional features familiar to users of microscopes including stage rotation, objective zoom and switching between plane-polarised light and crossed-polarised light. VPM includes a range of 'virtual' features not possible when analysing physical thin-sections, including auto-scaling grid overlays, and annotation of thin-section images with the ability to save, export and import annotation files for collaboration and education. A case study involved a trial of the software by an intermediate undergraduate geology class. Analysis of the final examination results shows that incorporation of the VPM tool into the class program improved skill at recognising common rock-forming minerals.
AB - We present a free, standalone Windows and Mac OSX desktop software tool designed to aid geoscience researchers, students and educators in rock thin-section analysis without the need for a petrographic microscope. Virtual Petrographic Microscope (VPM) allows a user to analyse prepared high-resolution images of rock thin-sections on a computer using traditional features familiar to users of microscopes including stage rotation, objective zoom and switching between plane-polarised light and crossed-polarised light. VPM includes a range of 'virtual' features not possible when analysing physical thin-sections, including auto-scaling grid overlays, and annotation of thin-section images with the ability to save, export and import annotation files for collaboration and education. A case study involved a trial of the software by an intermediate undergraduate geology class. Analysis of the final examination results shows that incorporation of the VPM tool into the class program improved skill at recognising common rock-forming minerals.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904358696&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08120099.2014.886624
DO - 10.1080/08120099.2014.886624
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84904358696
SN - 0812-0099
VL - 61
SP - 631
EP - 637
JO - Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
JF - Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
IS - 4
ER -