Equipment at Minot State University supports workforce development for North Dakota

An ideal thickness for studying certain rocks and minerals underneath a microscope is 0.03 mm, or roughly one one-thousandth of an inch (also known as one thou). Put another way, it takes 1,000 thous to make one inch.

Dr. John Webster, a Geosciences researcher and professor at Minot State University, received almost $33,000 from ND EPSCoR's STEM Research and Education program in 2022 to purchase a new precision thin-section machine that cuts stones thin enough for him and his students to discern mineral and chemical composition. ND EPSCoR's STEM Research and Education program is funded through appropriated funds from the ND state legislature to support STEM across North Dakota.

The Buehler PetroThin, as it’s called, is a thin section machine with a PetroBond thin section fixture that ensures parallelism of cutting and grinding procedures. The technology that creates thin sections isn’t new, but it’s essential to the work Webster performs as both a researcher and a lecturer. Thin-section study using a petrographic microscope is the standard technique for detailed study of rocks and minerals. It helps researchers describe rocks in great detail, including their mineral composition to better understand how they formed.

“It allows us to characterize rocks in new ways and interpret how rocks were formed,” Webster said. “It really is a fundamental, really important approach to studying geological materials. Even if we have good hand lenses (magnifiers), it’s difficult to identify minerals and see the textures. With thin slices like this, it really is how we characterize rocks and understand what they're made of in terms of minerals.”

Many of Webster’s Geosciences students go on to work in the oil and gas industry, but studying thin sections can also be useful for advancements in cellular technologies, making a career in the field a potentially lucrative—and satisfying—one. There are typically 25 Geoscience students during any given semester at Minot State. The college graduates approximately four majors each year, Webster said.

“A lot of geology students take an intro course and get interested. Geology majors graduate and go into the oil patch in various capacities, hired by drilling companies or mud logging to do the geologic monitoring. Some are hired by the state oil and gas as inspectors to sort of monitor what’s going on in the oil patch,” he said. Others work for other state agencies or local agencies, Webster added. Others do materials testing in oil patches or become environmental consultants, initially doing field work and sampling, and advancing into roles with more leadership responsibilities. Pay is good, too, especially those in the oil and gas industry, with an entry-level geoscientist median annual salary hitting $82,000, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

The machine benefits Webster’s own petrology research as well. “The ability to prepare quality thin sections allows our faculty to prepare custom teaching collections improves our research capabilities,” he said.