Development of Software to Assist Teaching Petrography to Undergraduate Earth Science Students

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An important difficulty faced by undergraduate Earth Science students is learning how to identify minerals in thin sections of rocks under a microscope. We will develop computer software (PetroDisc) to help students understand minerals and textures in thin sections of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. The application will be an interactive tutorial that draws photomicrographs from a CD-ROM or laser disk. Multiple images (plane and cross polarized light, stage rotation, reflected light, interference figures, cathodoluminescence, etc.) of the same thin section will simulate a petrographic microscope and illustrate the fundamental properties of minerals in thin sections. Each mineral grain on the image will be keyed to a database of mineral names, optical, compositional, and x-ray properties. Students will be able to interactively explore a series of thin sections, amplifying a laboratory instructor's effectiveness. Extended work with this program should increase their ability to identify minerals and manipulate various kinds of petrographic data (including x-ray maps, back scattered electron images, modal abundances, and crystal size distributions). PetroDisc will be constructed by a small team of geologists and an instructional programmer. Early versions of the program will be evaluated in laboratory classes, by other petrologists, and by making a prototype available for use and comment on the Internet before it is released. PetroDisc will be supplied by BYU to Earth Science departments at colleges and universities for minimal cost.