Thomas B asked:
I recently went to the Marin Headlands and collected chunks of chert. I want to show my daughter what radiolarians look like. But even under a 200x microscope, I'm not seeing much. How do I make the radiolarians visible?
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How do I make radiolarians visible in radiolarian chert? Do I need to dissolve the chert?
3 Responses to “How do I make radiolarians visible in radiolarian chert? Do I need to dissolve the chert?”
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December 17th, 2008 at 12:20 am
crush or disolve the chret and you must use a stain to see them, 200x will be enough
December 18th, 2008 at 1:20 am
How much expertise do you have with a microscope? It is not always easy to differentiate the images you are seeing. You may have to fine tune light, aperture, and other settings. And, staining might help, too. Also, move VERY slowly when scanning an area. Here is a sample microscopic image of them that might help (100x):
December 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
There are lots of chert that are inorganic in origin, precipitated from hot fluids at the bottom of the ocean. So, there is a possibility that you may not have any, depending on the origin of your chert.
If you try dissolving the chert you will dissolve the radiolarians as well, since they are made of the same mineral. The only thing is to make a thin section and look under the microscope. If you have another rock, like a limestone, you can dissolve the rock with HCl, which it will not dissolve the radiolarians. But since you have chert, you can not do that.
Here are some pictures on how they look like:
There are lots more if you look in google.