Micro prep on slate with pyrite layers?

[Lucky1]

I have cracked open some slate with pyrite and have some interesting finds. The pyrite is quick to rot and most of what I have found in my area thus far seems to be made of or encased in sediment with much pyrite. If I brush the pyrite layer it simply destroys the thin film of what was. Am I just stuck until I get my stereoscope?  I will have my air pen and sand blaster soon. I was thinking perhaps just air blast it? 

I have tried to file it down with my diamond block and wondering if I should get a much finer grit and polish to give it a smoother surface but I would only be getting the ones that happen to be perfectly placed on that level. 

Below is a picture of what I assume to be charnia in said slate rock preserved as pyrite.

I'm not interested in the charnia ( in regards to this post) but rather the macro and micro trace and preserved critters. Some look spectacular with tails that look like a birch tree seed and the body of a see slug/Ankylosaurus, only macro and micro.  


 

Edited March 6, 2022 by Lucky1

[Lucky1]

Thin section is one of the answers I am looking for. After some searching I found this. It seems to work but my tools are not up to the task I need finer grit to finish off the tiny slices. 

Also I have come to learn simply crushing some samples to dust also produce decent results for under the scope. 

I realized when I made a tiny thin section that at the edges some of the micro fossils had come out completely. That gave me the idea to crack open a fresh bit of shale go into an untouched layer and crush it a bit. Here are some of the unknown animals now. Most of them are tiny snails with clear shells. 

The ones with a large mass and the edge is thin section as well as the photo with only a shape in a dark matrix. The other 2 are of the powdered section of shale and pyrite. 

What I was initially after was some kind of technique to wash or clear some of the sandwich layer to reveal the patters that are clearly plant and animal. they mostly overlap and I cant distinguish where one ends and the other begins. Any chemistry that could make the images pop out better? Some kind of acid or base? Dyes? 

All sections are taken from deep within the rock after cutting it with the tile saw, separating solid unopen layers and having no other contamination. I did the opening and grinding inside of a still air box. Nothing in the photos is contamination from our time period. 


(Thin section playlist link)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc1yUU5DczrVvCLFhs7Xdz-r1LJaWm9mX