The Society of Reflective Personalities - Micrinite

1 July

Sparkles

Personality:
Tiny, reflective, and difficult to classify.

She is the controversial little presence in the Society. She appears as bright specks, but nobody fully agrees where she came from. Sometimes she is a fragment small enough to fall below the boundary. Sometimes she is the solid residue left after liptinite has decomposed during coalification, preserving the ghost-shape of what came before, especially when replacing Resinite or Sporinite. Sometimes the problem is not Micrinite at all, but a fleck of clay caught in the argument. And sometimes someone mutters that she may just be polishing residue.

That last part gives her attitude.

Sparkles is slightly offended by the accusation, but not entirely surprised by it. She is used to being questioned. She is tiny, bright, and difficult to pin down. Whether residue, fragment, replacement, or disputed presence, she refuses to disappear from the microscope field.

Scientist’s Note:
Micrinite is a maceral of the inertinite group. In reflected white light, it occurs as very small, rounded, pale grey to white grains. Its reflectance is higher than that of the associated vitrinite.

Because it can be hard to distinguish very fine micrinite from other small inertinitic fragments, micrinite is separated from inertodetrinite by an upper size limit of 2 µm. Aggregates of micrinite are distinguished from macrinite by their granular appearance.

Micrinite is also not tied to a single origin. Different classifications describe it as a collective term for very fine-grained inertinite that may form in several ways. Some micrinite is considered a secondary maceral produced during coalification. It may represent a coalification product, a solid residue of former lipoid substances, including liptinitic or hydrogen-rich vitrinitic material. It may also originate during peatification or through strong fragmentation of other inertinite macerals.