Tuesday, August 28, 2007

ASU Thermal Emission Spectra of Silicate, Carbonate, Sulfate, Phosphate, Halide, and Oxide Minerals

The spectral library is hosted by the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University (ASU) consists of thermal infrared emission spectra (typically 2000 - 220 cm-1) of a variety of geologic materials.

It is open and free, but one needs to register with a valid email address and take the time to learn how to access the data and obtain plots. It is not a trivial task.

Each spectrum comes with descriptive information, sample quality, and a comments field that describes any appropriate, related information.

To quote from the introduction to the library about the sources of data:
"Emission spectra were acquired using a Nicolet Nexus 670 interferometric spectrometer equipped with a CsI beamsplitter and an uncooled deuterated triglycine sulfate (DTGS) detector; the spectral range of the instrument is from 2000 — 220 cm-1 (5 — ~45 microns). Both the spectrometer and the sample chamber/glovebox were continuously purged with nitrogen gas during sample analysis to minimize atmospheric H2O and CO2 which also have absorption features in the 2000-220 cm-1 region of the spectrum. The particulate samples were heated in an oven to 80°C to improve the signal to noise ratio during spectral analysis (this temperature is maintained during analysis by placement of the sample cup on a heater element). The samples were raised into a water-cooled sample chamber that closely approximates a blackbody cavity [Ruff et al., 1997]. A total of 270 scans at 2-cm-1 sampling were taken over ~7 minutes and averaged together by the spectrometer. In the case of a hand sample, active heating during measurement is not possible. Hand samples were taken directly from the oven and placed into the sample chamber and 180 scans were taken over a period of ~5 minutes to minimize the effects of sample cooling. The spectral calibration method is a variation of method 1 of Christensen and Harrison [1993] as described in detail by Ruff et al., [1997]."


References cited above:
"Christensen, P.R., and S.T. Harrison, Thermal infrared emission spectroscopy of natural surfaces: Application to desert varnish coatings on rocks, J. Geophys. Res., 98 (B11), 19,819-19,834, 1993."Christensen, P.R., J.L. Bandfield, V.E. Hamilton, D.A. Howard, M.D. Lane, J.L. Piatek, S.W. Ruff, and W.L. Stefanov, A thermal emission spectral library of rock-forming minerals, J. Geophys. Res., 105,9735-9739, 2000. {ED NOTE: PDF DOWNLOAD}


"Feely, K.C. and P.R. Christensen, Quantitative compositional analysis using thermal emission spectroscopy: Application to igneous and metamorphic rocks, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 24195-24210, 1999.

"Lane, M.D. and P.R. Christensen, Thermal infrared emission spectroscopy of salt minerals predicted for Mars, Icarus, 135, 528-536, 1998.""Lane, M.D., Midinfrared emission spectroscopy of sulfate and sulfate-bearing minerals, American Mineralogist, in press, 2006.

"Ruff, S.W., P.R. Christensen, P.W. Barbera, and D.L. Anderson, Quantitative thermal emission spectroscopy of minerals: A laboratory technique for measurement and calibration, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 14,899-14,913, 1997."

Further reference publications related to the work at ASU may be viewed on the ASU website.

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