FROM ATOM TO MOUNTAIN BUILDING: APPLICATIONS OF E-BEAM IN SOLVING GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

Microstructures, interface structures and nano-phases preserved in minerals may provide information about origin and evolution history of their host minerals and rocks. It is important to obtain chemical, structural and textural structural information about minerals in order to provide a complete picture about their host rocks. Examples of using EBSD for understanding orientation-dependent oxygen isotope values under SIMS analyses, orientation dependent reaction of dolomitization (dolomite eating up calcite) will be presented. Microstructures and chemical heterogeneity preserved in sedimentary dolomite can provide us details mechanism and process about dolomitization. Z-contrast imaging can provide positions of vacancies and heavy metals directly at sub-A resolution. Examples of oxidation in olivine, exsolution and ordering in pyroxene from ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks will be presented.