Search results for " minerals"
showing 10 items of 137 documents
In-situ Mössbauer Spectroscopy with MIMOS II at Rio Tinto, Spain
2010
The Rio Tinto, located in southwest Spain, exhibits a nearly constant, acidic pHvalue along its course. Due to the formation of sulfate minerals, Rio Tinto is considered a potential analogue site for sulfate-rich regions on Mars, in particular at the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, where the ferric sulfate mineral jarosite was identified with Opportunity's Mössbauer spectrometer. Primary and secondary mineralogy was investigated in situ with portable Raman and Mössbauer spectrometers at four different Rio Tinto sampling sites. The two techniques analyse different sample portions due to their specific field of view and sampling depth and provide complementar…
Importance des variations latérales discrètes dans les apports détritiques, observées dans des faciès de rampe sédimentaire riches en matière organiq…
2017
17 pages; International audience; We studied a potential petroleum source rock deposited in a clastic-dominated ramp environment: the Argiles de Châtillon Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, Boulonnais area, northern France). The formation was deposited along a proximal-distal gradient on this ramp affected by synsedimentary fault movements. A sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical study was conducted to decipher the distribution patterns of sedimentary parameters along such a depth increase over the ramp. It comes out that smectite distribution unexpectedly mimics the lateral depth evolution despite the good floatability of the mineral. It is also observed that the Argiles de Châti…
Identification of carbonate-rich outcrops on Mars by the Spirit rover.
2010
Ancient Carbonate Minerals on Mars The historical presence of liquid water on Mars together with a CO 2 -rich atmosphere should have resulted in the accumulation of large deposits of carbonate minerals. Yet, evidence for the presence of carbonates on the surface of Mars has been scarce. Using data collected by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, Morris et al. (p. 421 , published online 3 June; see the Perspective by Harvey ) now present evidence for carbonate-rich outcrops in the Comanche outcrops within the Gusev crater. The carbonate is a major outcrop component and may have formed in the Noachian era (∼4 billion years ago) by precipitation from hydrothermal solutions that passed through …
Time‐gated Raman and laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy in mapping of eudialyte and catapleiite
2019
Abstract Raman analysis of rock samples containing rare earth elements (REEs) is challenging due to the strong fluorescence, which may mask the weaker Raman signal. In this research, time‐gated (TG) Raman has been applied to the construction of the mineral distribution map from REE‐bearing rock. With TG Raman, material is excited with a short subnanosecond laser pulse, and the Raman signal is collected within a picosecond‐scale time window prior to the formation of a strong fluorescent signal by means of single‐photon avalanche diode array. This allows signal readout with a significantly reduced fluorescence background. TG Raman maps are used to reveal the location of valuable minerals and …
The behaviour of zirconium and hafnium during water-rock interaction
2018
Abstract Zr and Hf are two elements with same ionic charge and similar ionic size at a given coordination number. Despite the Zr/Hf ratio is quite constant in meteorites and lithospheric rocks, in natural waters can be either higher or lower compared to values of interacting minerals and rocks. Here, we reanalyze very recent published and present new data on continental and brine waters indicating that the Zr and Hf behavior is dependent on the properties of the authigenic phases formed during the water-rock interaction process. Our results show that water pH in the range between 1 and 9 and water ionic strength in the range between 0.001 and 4 mol kg−1 are responsible for the change of the…
Influence of Glass Additions on Illitic Clay Ceramics
2020
A mixture of an illitic clay and waste glass was prepared and studied during the sintering process. The illitic clay, from the Liepa deposit (Latvia), and green glass waste (GW) were disintegrated to obtain a homogeneous mixture. The addition of disintegrated GW (5&ndash
A multi-technique characterisation of cronstedtite synthetized by iron-clay interaction in a step by step cooling procedure
2013
International audience; The cooling of steel containers in radioactive-waste storage was simulated in a step-by-step experiment from 90 to 40 degrees C. Among newly formed clay minerals observed in run products, cronstedtite was identified by a number of analytical techniques (powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy). Cronstedtite has not previously been recognized to be so abundant and so well crystallized in an iron-clay interaction experiment. The supersaturation of experimental solutions with respect to cronstedtite was due to the availability of Fe and Si in solution, as a result of the dissolution of iron metal powder, quartz, and m…
The pore structure of compacted and partly saturated MX-80 bentonite at different dry densities
2014
Compacted MX-80 bentonite is a potential backfill material in radioactive-waste repositories. Pore space in MX-80 has been the subject of considerable debate. 3D reconstructions of the pore space based on tomographic methods could provide new insights into the nature of the pore space of compacted bentonites. To date, few such reconstructions have been done because of problems with the preparation of bentonite samples for electron microscopy. The nanoscale intergranular pore space was investigated here by cryo-Focused Ion Beam nanotomography (FIB-nt) applied to previously high-pressure frozen MX-80 bentonite samples. This approach allowed a tomographic investigation of the in situ microstru…
Interfacial premelting of ice in nano composite materials
2018
Physical chemistry, chemical physics 21, 3734 - 3741 (2019). doi:10.1039/C8CP05604H
Mechanism of Heavy Element Retention in Hydrated Layers Formed on Leached Silicate Glasses
1988
ABSTRACTWe have investigated the relationship between hydrated layer formation during aqueous corrosion of silicates and retention of heavy elements (Fe, REE, actinides). Our approach is based on the comparison of the dissolution behaviour of silicate glasses, silicate minerals implanted with increasing doses of lead ions (1×E+12 to 1×E+15 ions/cm2), sorption experiments on silica surfaces and direct precipitation of hydrosilicates. The characterization of reacted surfaces was performed by combining Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) for profiling heavy elements with Resonant Nuclear Reaction Analysis (RNRA) for hydrogen profilimetry. The accumulation of these elements does not ne…