Preparation of polished thin sections from poorly consolidated regolith and sediment materials

Good quality polished thin sections can be prepared from poorly consolidated, wet, fragile and friable regolith and sediment materials in a standard earth science thin section laboratory, with only minor additional equipment. Materials are dried over an acetone bath, impregnated with a polyester resin mix, and cut and polished using minor modifications of standard hard rock thin sectioning equipment and techniques. The sections produced are suitable for both optical and electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.