6533b85dfe1ef96bd12bf187
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Investigation of manganese in salt- and freshwater pearls
Jan MeijerA. StephanArun BanerjeeD. Habermannsubject
CalciteNuclear and High Energy PhysicsMicro pixeAragoniteTrace elementchemistry.chemical_elementMineralogyManganeseengineering.materialchemistry.chemical_compoundchemistryEnvironmental chemistryengineeringInstrumentationdescription
Abstract The trace element distribution in natural and cultured pearls is analysed by micro-PIXE, cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy and spectroscopy and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy to develop a new method to distinguish cultured from natural pearls. These different kinds of pearls can be identified by their manganese content and its distribution in aragonite and calcite structure, respectively. Manganese content of natural freshwater pearls from Persian Gulf was compared to that of natural freshwater pearls from the Mississippi river (USA). Moreover manganese content of tissue-graft freshwater pearls from Chansu (China) was compared to that of natural freshwater pearls from the Mississippi river (USA). It was proved that the Chinese freshwater tissue-graft cultured pearls generally contain domains of calcite, emitting orange Mn 2+ -activated CL which are almost absent in the natural freshwater pearls from the Mississippi river. Freshwater pearls showing much higher Mn concentrations build in calcitic and aragonitic parts compared to saltwater pearls.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-07-01 | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms |