Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-pkt8n Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-22T13:09:48.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Standardless quantitative mineralogical analysis of rocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

K. P. Zangalis
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, 70 Mesogion Street, 11527 Athens, Greece

Abstract

The main difficulty in the quantitative mineral analysis of rocks is connected with the variable nature of the mineral species. In the present paper a combined method (and a corresponding computer program) is proposed, which practically overcomes this difficulty. This method is based on linear equations, which are a combination of the chemical mass-balance equations with those of the quantitative X-ray diffractometry, and can perform (completely or partly) both the quantification and the chemical characterization of the minerals on several rock samples simultaneously, demanding only easily accessible initial information, such as: (i) major element (oxide) compositions for the samples; (ii) qualitative mineral composition of the samples; (iii) X-ray intensities for one or few nonoverlapped reflections of the crystalline minerals (not necessarily of all): (iv) some characteristic data for the phases (i.e., chemical composition data), if these are accurately known. Where it is possible the minerals may be expressed via end members. The samples may contain amorphous phases and/or phases without X-ray data. From the general case some very simple partial cases are derived, demanding less initial information. This method has the following advantages over the previous ones of similar philosophy: (i) drastic reduction of the number of required samples; (ii) sufficiency of equations for any analytical problem; (iii) possibility of performing partial analysis when a complete one is impossible; (iv) possibility of using the same end member in more than one solid solution. Analysis examples are given.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Fang, J. H., and Zevin, L. S. (1985). “Quantitative X-ray diffractometry of carbonate rocks,” J. Sediment. Petrol. 55, 611613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiala, G. (1980). “Powder diffraction analysis of a three-component sample,” Anal. Chem. 52, 13001304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R. I. (1967). “Quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis using clay mineral standards extracted from the samples to be analyzed,” Clay Miner. 7, 7990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klug, H. P., and Alexander, L. E. (1974).X-ray Diffraction Procedures, 2nd ed. (New York, Willey-Interscience).Google Scholar
Laird, D. A., and Dowdy, R. H. (1994). “Simultaneous mineralogical quantification and chemical characterization of soil clays,” Clays Clay Miner. 42, 747754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeMaitre, R. W. (1982). Numerical Petrology (Elsevier, Amsterdam, Oxford, New York).Google Scholar
Metzner, C., and Grimmeisen, W. (1990). “MONA: a user-friedly computer-program for calculating the modal mineralogy of rocks from chemical analyses,” Eur. J. Mineral. 2, 735738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, C. A. (1968). “Quantitative analysis of naturally occurring multicomponent mineral systems by X-ray diffraction,” Clays Clay Miner. 16, 325336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salyn, A. L., and Dritz, V. A. (1972). “On the method of X-ray quantitative phase analysis of clays,” Proceedings 1972 International Clay Conference, Madrid, pp. 797–806.Google Scholar
Starks, T. H., Fang, J. H., and Zevin, C. S. (1984). “A standardless method of quantitative X-ray diffractometry using target-transformation factor analysis,” Mathematical Geology 16, 351367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stormer, C. J., and Nichols, J. (1978). “XIfrac: A program for the interactive testing of magmatic differentiation models,” Comput. Geosci. 4, 143159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, H. (1988). “A method for quantitative X-ray analysis without standards,” Powder Diffr. 3, 165167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, S., and Pu, X. (1991). “General expression of quantitative phase analysis for samples containing amorphous phases,” Powder Diffr. 6, 6265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zangalis, K. P. (1980). “A new point of view in the mineralogical phase analysis,” Miner. Petrol. Res. 1, 119,Institute of Geological and Mining Research, Athens, Greece.Google Scholar
Zangalis, K. P. (1986). “A complex phase analysis method for multimineral systems, containing crystalline and amorphous phases,” Industr. Lab. 52, 785787.Google Scholar
Zangalis, K. P. (1991). “A standardless method of quantitative mineral analysis using X-ray and chemical data,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 24, 197202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zevin, L. S. (1977). “A method of quantitative phase analysis without standards,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 10, 147150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zevin, L. S., and Zevin, S. L. (1989). “Standardless quantitative X-ray phase analysis—estimation of precision, Powder Diffr. 4, 196200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zevin, L. S., and Kimmel, G. (1995). Quantitative X-ray Diffractometry (Springer-Verlag, New York).CrossRefGoogle Scholar