Earth Materials: (An)Isotropy 1

Earth Materials: Isotropy and Anisotropy

Isotropy and Anisotropy

A substance that is isotropic has the same value for a physical property in any
direction. A material is anisotropic with respect to any property if the value of that
property varies with direction. In mineralogy, isotropic and anisotropic are most
frequently used to describe optical properties. However, other properties can vary
with direction. For example, many minerals have different strengths in different
direction but the variation is not large. An exception to this is kyanite (one of the
polymorphs of Al2SiO5) for which the alternative name is disthene, from the Greek for
two (di-) and strength (stenos-). It has hardness about 4.5 along its prism length but
7 across the prism.

Absorption Anisotropy
The graph to the left shows
absorption of different wavelengths
of electromagnetic radiation by the
mineral cordierite. The inset colour
bar shows the approximate
wavelengths of visible light. The
lines on the graph (, , and ) are
for absoption along the three
crystallographic axes of the mineral.
The variation is most profound for
wavelengths around 1000nm (in the
infrared). But even for visible light
wavelengths there are variations
between the different wavelengths.
Blue is not strongly absorbed by any of the axes,
but yellows and reds are more strongly absorbed
by axis . This means that there is one orientation
in which blue is much more strongly transmitted
than other colours, while the other wavelengths are
absorbed, giving the mineral a blue appearance in
this direction. The mineral more evenly absorbs
only a small amount of light along the othe axes
meaning it transmits most wavelengths. Therefore,
in these other orientations cordierite has a very
pale colouration.
The image to the right shows a cordierite block cut
with perpendicular edges to maximise this effect. In
a real crystal the variation would be more gradual
between the endmember colours. This effect, called pleochroism, is more
frequently seen in thin section. Look at the video Absorption Anisotropy in
Cordierite to see a video of this effect. You also looked at example of this in
tourmaline, in thin section during the Week 4 practical.
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Refractive Anisotropy
Many minerals are anisotropic with respect to refractive index. Among crystalline
materials only those in the Isometric system are isotropic. All other crystals are
anisotropic because the difference between the refractive indexes of the fast and
slow rays varies gradually within some range that is characteristic of that mineral.
Although the formal term for this should be refractive anisotropy, it is often called
optical anisotropy or just anisotropy.
Previous asynchronous lecture and practical exercises have introduced you to how
optically anistropic materials express this property in hand specimen and in thin
section. Very few materials are sufficiently anisotropic to generate two images, as is
seen in Iceland Spar. However, thin sections reveal anisotropy as interference
colours when viewed in cross polarised light.
The key point to remember when viewing a thin section in cross polarised light is that
the interference colours reflect the amount of retardation generated by the crystal
lastice encountered by the light. There are three things that can change the
interference colour seen in any one crystal:
1. Thickness of the anisotropic material
All thin sections are cut to 30 microns depth but this can still host variations in
thickness of an individual crystal. For example, crystals get thinner towards their
edges and towards cracks in the crystal. It is common to see gradual changes down
through the order of colours of the Michel – Levy chart close to these features.
2. Orientation of the crystal lattice
As mentioned above “the difference between the refractive indexes of the fast and
slow rays varies gradually within some range that is characteristic of that mineral”.
This means that any particular section cut through an anisotropic mineral will always
give the same difference in refractive indexes and, so, the same interference colour.
However, two sections cut in different orientations in the same anisotropic material
give different interference colours. This is why any particular phase in a rock can
show different interference colours. For example, all the quartz crystals in a quartzite
may show slightly different intereference colours because their crystallographic axes
all lie at slightly different orientations relative to the plane of the thin section.
The figure below shows a schematic illustration of several biotite crystals lying at
different orientation with respect to the cut of a thin section (the green slice). The red
lines represent the c-axis of each crystal. For biotite, crystals with vertical c-axis give
the lowest interference colours.

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Changing orientations of the crystal lattice also

explain why twinned crystals show zones with
different interference colours. Twinning is when a
crystal hosts different domains that have the same
lattice but in different orientations. Therefore, the
effect is similar to two different crystals of the same
mineral. The (sets of) twins can show different
interference colours and go into extinction at
different times. The image (left) shows an example
from calcite that you examined last week. The main
body of the crystal is in extinction but two sets of
twins (one running northeast to southwest, one
southeast to northwest) are not extinct at this
orientation. Rotating the stage would change the orientation of the lattices in each
set so that the diagonal twins would go extinct when their vibration directions are
parallel to those of the microscope’s polarise and analyser.

A further effect revealed by interference

colours is crystal lattice strain. Some
deformation of crystals happens by bending
of the lattice, rather than fracture or
cleavage. Interference colours will reveal
this because differently oriented sections of
lattice in the same crystal go into extinction
at different points in the rotation of the
stage. The example here shows quartz,
with a strained band running through the
centre of it. This undulose extinction
changes gradually across the crystal from top and bottom towards the centre. On
rotation, extinction would appear to sweep over the crystal.

3. Composition of the crystal

Even small changes in the chemistry
of a crystal affect the lattice. These
can be seen as changes in
interference colour. The example to
the left shows an increase from first
order magenta at the centre to
second order blue at the edges of
this olivine crystal. Because the
order of interference colour is
increasing this cannot be due to the
crystal being thinner at its edge.
Instead, the Mg : Fe ratio of this
crystal has changed as it has grown and this is shown up as changing interference
colours. This variation in composition within a crystal is known as zoning, and often
reflects the mineral being a solid solution.

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Seismic Anisotropy
Olivine is the most abundant mineral in the upper mantle. As well as being optically
anisotropic, it is anisotropic in how seismic wave propagate through it. This means
that earthquake travel times (from source to detection) can be used to identify
domains in the mantle where olivine crystals are aligned (in the same way blobs in a
lava lamp get smeared out by its circulation). This effect has been used to study
layering and flow of the mantle over geological timescales, as explained in the item
Crystal to Continent Scale Strength in this week’s Extension Activities.

Isotropic Materials
Relatively few natural solids are isotropic. Isotropic materials are highly symmetrical.
This is why light behaves in a consistent way regardless of which direction it is
incident on these materials. Among the crystal systems only the Isometric minerals
have sufficiently high symmetry to be isotropic. The other main class of natural solids
that are isotropic are glasses. Natural glasses, such as obsidian, are quenched
magma. In magma there is negligible preferential arrangement of atoms (compared
to most crystals). Because there are so many billions of atoms in even a tiny piece of
magma, scaling this randomness up to the visible scale means the magma (and its
quenched equivalent) interact in the same way with light from any direction. Gases
and (most) liquids are isotropic for the same reason.
The isotropic nature of glass is demonstrated
by the macroscope video you watched in last
week’s asynchronous lecture. The calcite
rhomb was sitting on a Petri dish, which is
made of glass. When the “analyser” was
pulled across the line of sight, all of the
polarised light coming from the source
(except that passing through calcite) went
into extinction. Therefore, the glass holding
the crystal is isotropic, in contrast to the
anisotropic calcite.
Why Do Isotropic Material Not Produce Interference Colours?
Isotropic materials do not generate two light waves. Light is refracted by isotropic
materials but it is transmitted as a single wave with the same polarisation as the
incident light. This means that a thin section of isotopic material transmits polarised
light with the same vibration direction as the polariser, regardless of the orientation of
the crystal lattice (i.e. how you rotate the thin
section on the stage). This light passes
through the section and when it meets the
polariser is unable to pass, because it is
vibrating at 90° to the analyser. Therefore,
isotropic materials, such as the mineral
garnet or volcanic glass, always look black in
cross polarised light.
In cross polarised light, two large garnet
crystals on the right of this image appear
completely black because they are isotropic.

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