Hamelin Pool Microbialites: Images of vertical sections and thin section scans
Description
Forty-five microbialite heads were collected from Hamelin Pool between 2012 and 2014. Repository contains images of polished slabs, slabs showing the location of thin sections, and thin section scans from each sample. Sample location map and inventory list are also included.
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Steps to reproduce
This collection of forty-five microbialite heads (no larger than 60 cm x 40cm) were removed from representative biological zones around the margins of Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Samples were collected between 2012 and 2014. Microbialites were removed using a hammer and a chisel, and when possible, removed simply by gently pulling on them. Samples were dried in the sun. Each of the forty-five heads was slabbed into three 1-inch thick slices using a slab saw fitted with a continuous-rim diamond blade, using water as a coolant and lubricant. Slabs were impregnated with Akemi Akepok 1006 epoxy, and polished at Aradon in Malaga, Western Australia, using large (1-meter in diameter) reciprocating flat laps (vibrolaps). Slabs were evenly weighted and placed face-down in an abrasive slurry of water and aluminum-oxide (160 grit) for ~12 hours, before being washed and dried. Two of the three slabs from each microbialite head were polished on felt with aluminum-oxide (1200 grit) and used for mesoscale fabric mapping. The remaining unpolished slab was cut into multiple billets representative of mesoscale structure variability to be made into 230 - 2” x 3” petrographic thin sections; 186 thin sections were prepared by National Petrographic Service, Inc., Rosenberg, Texas; 44 thin sections were prepared by Ray Lund at Quality Thin Sections, Tucson, Arizona. A publicly accessible collection of slabs and raw material is currently stored at GSWA Core Library in Carlisle, Western Australia.