llmenite and haematite. Kimberlite pipe. Unknown Provenance
360µm
This section has been polished with 1µm diamond paste, but shows extensive plucking. Host magnesium-rich ilmenite crystals (brown) carry lath-shaped haematite exsolution bodies (blue-grey). Plucked areas (black) have the same size, shape and orientation as the haematite, suggesting that it has been preferentially removed. If more than one phase is plucked in a section then it becomes difficult to estimate modal percentages.
Grain mount, plane polarized light, x 55, air
