A reflected-light petrographic technique for peats

Although our method is quite similar to early reflected-light studies, we modified the preparation in three ways. First, we quick-froze the peat by immersing it in liquid nitrogen and then freeze drying it in a vacuum. The second modification was to prepare larger (5 x 7 cm) blocks of peat to permit reliable size estimates for woody peats. Finally, we used an automated polisher instead of hand polishing the blocks because of the superior and consistent quality of preparation. -from Authors