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! A.E. Adams et al. (2014): Atlas of Sedimentary Rocks under the Microscope. In PDF. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
See likewise here.
Including practical aspects of slide preparation.
Note picture 217. Thin section of a coal ball.

! Georg von Arx et al. (2016): Quantitative Wood Anatomy — Practical Guidelines. Free access, Front. Plant Sci., 7.
See also here.

Biozentrum Uni Basel und REM-Labor Uni Basel:
Blockkurs Mikroskopie. A Tutorial (in German). Go to:
Einbetten und Dünnschneiden.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Henry Barwood, Mineral Resources Section, Indiana Geological Survey, Bloomington, Indiana: The mineralogy and origin of coal balls.
Now available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge: Optical Microscopy and Specimen Preparation. This teaching and learning package provides an introduction to the use of optical microscopes. It introduces the different types of microscope used to examine specimens and how to set them up correctly. There is also an introduction to specimen preparation.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! A. Cuccu et al. (2025): Hard tissue thin-sectioning techniques in vertebrate paleohistology: Review, synthesis and improvements. Open access, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 16: 66-83.
Note table 1: Material used in the thinsectioning process.
"... The guide provided herein covers the techniques necessary to produce a paleohistological thin section, providing step-by-step instructions along with insights for technicians and both beginners and experienced scientists ..."

C. Dorronsoro, Departament of Pedology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Spain: Thin sections. How to obtain thin sections.

! H.J. Falcon-Lang and D.M. Digrius (2014): Palaeobotany under the microscope: history of the invention and widespread adoption of the petrographic thin section technique. In PDF.

H. Falcon-Lang (2012): Double-crossed Nicol. William Nicol pioneered petrographic microscopy; but a dastardly palaeobotanist tried to steal his glory.
Geoscientist.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

C.J. Harper (2015): The diversity and interactions of fungi from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic of Antarctica. In PDF, Thesis, University of Kansas, Lawrence. See also here.
Note figure 4 (PDF page 273)): Thin section technique.
Figure 14 (PDF page 353): Diagrammatic representation of the relationship between tylosis formation and fungal distribution in a three-dimensional block diagram of the wood.

Richard Hill, Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona (published by the Mid-America Paleontology Soc. in the Expo proceedings for 1999): Making Thin Sections by Hand. A method of manually making thin sections is presented. Simple techniques for maintaining parallelism that avoids direct measurement is described in detail and a number of examples are shown.

David M. Hirsch, Geology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA: How to make a thin section.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Heather Kroening, & Karen Hagen, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta: Instructional Multimedia, Multimedia Topics, Procedures. Go to: How to make a wet mount. Online and downloadable flash movies.

Glen J. Kuban: FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). Nine articles from an introduction to fossil collecting, e.g. Fossil Preparation.

! B. Liu et al. (2022): SEM petrography of dispersed organic matter in black shales: A review. In PDF, Earth-Science Reviews, 224.
See also here.

Logitech Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland.
Suppliers of thin section preparation equipment and systems. Go to:
Geological Thin Section Preparation (in PDF). Note likewise:
Thin section preparation techniques.
A version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! L. Lopez Cavalcante et al. (2023): Analysis of fossil plant cuticles using vibrational spectroscopy: A new preparation protocol. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 316.
See also here.
"... alarming changes were caused by the use of Schulze’s solution, which resulted in the addition of both NO₂ and (O)NO₂ compounds in the cuticle. Consequently, a new protocol using H₂CO₃, HF, and H₂O₂ for preparing fossil plant cuticles aimed for chemical analyses is proposed, which provides an effective substitute to the conventional methods.

LRC Core Facility, Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis: Sedimentology and mineralogy, Thin sections (PDF file). This is a procedure writeup of the practical aspects of how to embed samples for thin section slab preparation.

The Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA).
NatSCA's mission is to promote and support natural science collections, the institutions that house them and the people that work with them, in order to improve collections care, understanding, accessibility and enjoyment for all. Worth checking out:
! Care and Conservation of Geological Specimens (in PDF).

PageWise Inc.: Public Bookshelf, Methods in Plant Histology. This book has been published in the early 1900´s. Go to: Plant histology: Paleobotany.

! M.E. Popa (2011): Field and laboratory techniques in plant compressions: an integrated approach. In PDF, Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
See also here and there.

C. Pott and H. Kerp (2008): Mikroskopische Untersuchungsmethoden an fossilen Pflanzenabdrücken. In PDF, Der Präparator.

Gar W. Rothwell, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology Ohio University, Athens:
Paleobotany. This course covers the evolutionary history of plants as revealed by the fossil record. Go to:
Cutting a Coal Ball, and
Coal Ball Peel Technique.
Snapshots taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

I. Salins and A. J. Ringrose-Voase, CSIRO Division of Soils, Canberra, Australia: Impregnation Techniques for Soils and Clay Materials. PDF file. The problems and overcoming them.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! A.C. Scott and M.E. Collinson (2003): Non-destructive multiple approaches to interpret the preservation of plant fossils: implications for calcium-rich permineralisations. PDF file, Journal of the Geological Society, 160: 857-862. See also here.
"Specimens were observed using transmitted light, polarized light, reflected light under oil, and cathodoluminescence. Selected areas were studied using a variable pressure SEM in backscattered electron mode. [...] Results reveal that anatomical interpretations based merely on observations of thin sections in transmitted light can be very misleading ..."

A.R. Semeler and M.G. Sommer (2024): Research data in paleobotany: petrographic thin sections fossil wood dataset. In PDF, Encontros Bibli, Florianópolis, 29. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5007/1518-2924.2024.e95688/EN.
See likewise here, and there.

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology:
Preparators Resources. This is a resource for those concerned with fossil preparation, collection cares and management, field techniques, and conservation. See especially:
! The list of references on fossil preparation and collection care (Excel file). Excellent!

Union College, Schenectady, New York, USA: Making Petrographic Thin Sections. In PDF.

P.B. Vixseboxse et al. (2024): Taphonomic experiments fixed and conserved with Paraloid B72 resin via solvent replacement. Open access, Lethaia, 57.
"... Taphonomic experiments offer a powerful tool with which to interpret the influence of decay and mineralization on the quality and completeness of Earth’s fossil record
[...] we propose a novel method of soft sediment fixation that permits the stabilization of entire decay experiments for sectioning and microanalysis
[...] Application of this method to a wide range of substrates demonstrates that this methodology can produce effective stabilization of samples, including unconsolidated sands and organic-rich substrates, with a chemically inert polymer ..."

P.J. Whybrow (1985): A history of fossil collecting and preparation techniques. In PDF, Curator.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Thin section.

! N. Zavialova and E. Karasev (2016): The use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to reconstruct the ultrastructure of sporoderm. In PDF, Palynology, : 89-100.
See also here.
! Note figure 2: Main stages of preparation for a scanning electron microscope (SEM) study of semithin sections.