scholarly journals Crack-enhanced weathering in inscribed marble: a possible application in epigraphy

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-202
Author(s):  
Stylianos Aspiotis ◽  
Jochen Schlüter ◽  
Kaja Harter-Uibopuu ◽  
Boriana Mihailova

Abstract. Raman spectroscopy has been applied to check if there are detectible material differences beneath the inscribed and non-inscribed areas of marble-based written artefacts, which could be further used to visualize lost or hardly readable text via suitable mapping. As a case study, marble segments with ∼ 2000-year-old inscribed letters from Asia Minor (western Turkey) and marble gravestones with 66 ± 14-year-old inscriptions from the cemetery of Ohlsdorf (Hamburg, Germany) have been subjected to Raman spectroscopy, as well as to complementary X-ray diffraction, wavelength-dispersive electron probe microanalysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, to thoroughly study the effect of different environmental conditions, grain size, and inscription age on the nature and penetration depth of marble alteration. The results demonstrate that environmental conditions rule over the type of dominant weathering changes, which are carotenoid molecular inclusions produced by lichen and amorphous carbon for marbles from Hamburg and Asia Minor, respectively. The alteration is much stronger in medium- and coarse-grained than in fine-grained marble, but it is suppressed by letter colouring. In the absence of letter colouring, the weathering-related products in both ancient and modern engraved marbles are more abundant beneath than away from the engraved areas, and the penetration depth is larger due to the enhancement of fissures and micro-cracks around the inscribed areas. We show that the Raman intensity ratio between the strongest peak of the weathering-related product (ν(C=C) ∼ 1520 cm−1 for carotenoids or the G peak ∼ 1595 cm−1 for soot-like carbon) and the strongest peak of marble (CO3 stretching near 1087 cm−1) can serve as a quantitative marker to indirectly map the lateral distribution of cracks induced during the inscribing process and hence can potentially be used to trace lost text on vanished marble inscriptions. This approach can be applied to other rock types, but further studies are required to identify the corresponding autochthonous weathering-related products.

2020 ◽  
Vol 403 ◽  
pp. 75-89
Author(s):  
Vojtěch Průcha ◽  
David Bricín ◽  
Antonín Kříž ◽  
Zdeněk Jansa

The present paper explores the effects of deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) on the properties of WC-Co cemented carbides. The investigation involved four different cemented carbide (CC) grades. Two of them were coarse-grained WC with grain sizes larger than 6 μm and binder fractions of 10 and 15 wt. %. The other two were fine-grained with WC grains of 0.5-0.8 μm and the same binder fractions of 10 and 15 wt. %. Their specimens were ground and polished to prepare them for DCT. In each specimen, one half of this polished surface was used for testing the properties of the CC before cryogenic treatment. The post-DCT properties were then determined on the other half. Properties of the cemented carbides prior to and after DCT were studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, hardness testing according to Vickers scale followed by calculation of fracture toughness KIC and a ball-on-disk test of the wear resistance of the surface. One of the findings was that cryogenic treatment led to a decrease in residual stresses and to lower fracture toughness KIC in the CC.


1969 ◽  
Vol 37 (288) ◽  
pp. 472-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Strong

SummaryA study of augite in over three hundred thin sections of mainly alkalic rocks permits the distinction of two main types of hour-glass structure. The common ‘swallow-tailed’, sometimes skeletal augite crystals are found in the fine-grained groundmass of many rock types, and it is suggested that rapid crystallization alone accounts for their formation. Hence, this type of hour-glass structure has been called ‘quench hour-glass’. The hour-glass structures of larger augite crystals of porphyritic and coarse-grained rocks are commonly described as hour-glass ‘zoning’, as they result primarily from compositional differences between the different sectors. These were formed under conditions of relatively slower cooling than the ‘quench hour-glass’, and thus cannot be explained in the same way. They are thought to have formed by a process involving adsorption of impurities on a particular crystal face so as to impede growth of these faces, producing an initial skeleton of hour-glass form, which is completed by later crystallization of augite richer in FeO, Na2O, TiO2, and Al2O3. This hypothesis also explains the patchy zoning of other augite crystals, casting doubt on some petrogenetic interpretations of such zones as core zones.


Clay Minerals ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Erkoyun ◽  
S. Kadіr

AbstractThe Hallaçlar kaolinite deposit of the Uşak Province (western Turkey) is hosted by dacite, andesite and siliceous materials of the Miocene Karaboldere volcanites. Mineralogical zonation, such as the prevalence of kaolinite at the centre of the deposit, coexisting with silica polymorphs such as quartz and cristobalite along with feldspar and hornblende, and a relative increase of smectite, illite, chlorite, and Fe-oxide/-hydroxide phases outward and upward, demonstrate that hydrothermal-alteration processes resulted in kaolinization. Micromorphologically, kaolinite occurs as pseudohexagonal blocky kaolinite with coarse-grained quartz in microfractures, and the presence of relatively fine-grained vermiform kaolinite that edges volcanic materials indicates that kaolinite developed in several phases coexisting with goethite, lepidocrocite, hematite, pyrite, jarosite, alunite, and gypsum/anhydrite with smectite in fractures. The highly crystallized Hallaçlar kaolinite is identified by: (1) sharp reflections at 7.23 and 3.57 Å, with triplet and doublet non-basal reflections; (2) sharp infrared spectral bands at 3687, 3651 and 3620 cm-1; (3) well defined, pseudohexagonal and hexagonal kaolinite crystal growth; (4) a chemical index of weathering of 98.6-100; and (5) SiO2/Al2O3 ratios between 1.04 and 1.45. Enrichment of Sr and depletion of Rb+Ba, Ti, and HREE relative to LREE, with a distinct negative Eu anomaly, are responses to the fractionation of feldspar and hornblende by the hydrothermal fluid; these results are also supported by the O- and H-isotopic character and formation temperatures of the Hallaçlar kaolinite and smectite; namely, 134.1-183.4°C and 65.6°C, respectively. The negative δ34S (-20.7‰) value of gypsum/anhydrite reflects its formation from geothermal-water-derived sulphur. Under the influence of a tectonically controlled hydrothermal process, feldspar, hornblende and volcanic glass were altered, resulting in the conservation of Al and depletion of Si, Na, Ca, K, Mg and Fe in an open hydrological system such that formation of kaolinite in the central part of the deposit under acidic conditions and development of smectite and illite upward and outward under basic conditions were favoured.


1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Carmichael

Measurements of the magnetic properties, paleomagnetic field intensity, and the inferred paleomagnetic field polarity have been made using fine grained basalt and coarser grained rock samples dredged from the mid-Atlantic ridge near 45° N and supplied by the Geological Survey of Canada. The opaque mineralogy of the samples was studied by microscope, Curie point, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The natural remanent magnetization of the basalt is of the order of 5 to 10 × 10−3 e.m.u./cm3 with some values from the center of the median valley reaching 10−1 e.m.u./cm3. Magnetic anomalies over the ridge can be accounted for by the remanent magnetization of a few hundred meters of this basalt. The coarse grained rocks were relatively weakly magnetized, and while they contribute little to the magnetic anomalies, their diverse character suggests that the major portion of the oceanic crust, below a thin veneer of fine grained basalt, has differentiated into a complex structure.


Author(s):  
Wei Xu ◽  
Di-Cheng Zhu ◽  
Qing Wang ◽  
Roberto F Weinberg ◽  
Rui Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Amphibole plays an important role in the petrogenesis and evolution of arc magmas, but its role is not completely understood yet. Here, a field, petrological, geochronological and geochemical study is carried out on ultramafic-mafic arc cumulates with textural and chemical heterogeneities and on associated host diorites from the eastern Gangdese Batholith, southern Tibet to explore the problem. The cumulates occur as a large body in diorite host-rocks. The core of the body consists of coarse-grained Cpx hornblendite with a porphyritic texture. Towards the contact with the host diorite, the coarse-grained Cpx hornblendite grades to relatively homogeneous fine-grained melagabbro. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates they all crystallized at 200 ± 1 Ma. Textural features and whole-rock and mineral chemical data reveal that both the Cpx hornblendite and the melagabbro are mixtures of two different mineral assemblages that are not in equilibrium: (1) brown amphibole and its clinopyroxene inclusions; (2) matrix clinopyroxene + green amphibole + plagioclase + quartz + accessory phases. Clinopyroxene and brown amphibole from the first assemblage are enriched in middle rare earth elements (MREE) relative to light REE (LREE) and heavy REE (HREE), and are weakly depleted in Ti, whereas clinopyroxene and green amphibole from the second assemblage are characterized by LREE enrichment over MREE-HREE and more marked Sr and Ti depletion. The higher Mg#, MgO and Cr of the late-formed green amphibole than the early-formed brown amphibole suggest that the two assemblages are not on the same liquid line of descent. Given the close relations of the three rock types in the exposed crustal section, the cumulates are interpreted to have formed in an open system, in which an ultramafic cumulate body consisting of the first assemblage reacted with the host dioritic melt to form new clinopyroxene and amphibole of the second assemblage. The melt calculated to be in equilibrium with the first mineral assemblage resembles an average continental arc basalt, that is less evolved than the host dioritic melt, responsible for the second mineral assemblage. On the basis of whole-rock Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic similarity of the cumulates and a host diorite sample, we argue that the host diorites were formed through crystal fractionation from the parent melt of the first assemblage. Results of least-squares mass-balance calculations suggest the quantities of the host dioritic melts, involved in the generation of these modified cumulates, vary from ~25% to ~44%. The presence of magmatic epidote in the host diorites and Al-in-Hb geobarometry indicate the reaction that occurred when the dioritic melts percolated through the cumulate body was at ~6 kbar. Both the brown and green amphiboles are enriched in MREE relative to HREE, and can impart residual melts with a strong geochemical signature of amphibole fractionation (low Dy/Yb). Thus, we conclude that fractional crystallization and melt-rock reaction are two mechanisms by which amphibole controls arc magma petrogenesis and evolution.


Clay Minerals ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Wilson ◽  
John Keeling

AbstractHalloysite with tubular morphology is formed in a wide range of geological environments from the alteration of various rock types. Intrusive acidic coarse-grained rocks, such as granites, pegmatites and anorthosite, with large potash and sodic feldspars contents, are subsequently altered to kaolinite, halloysite and other clay minerals by weathering or shallow hydrothermal fluid activity. Processing to separate the halloysite-kaolinite fraction from the altered host rock provides a product which can be used as a paper filler and in ceramics and fibreglass, among other uses, with various deposits in Brazil, China, Thailand and elsewhere. In the Kerikeri-Matauri Bay district of Northland, North Island, New Zealand, volcanic alkali rhyolite was extruded as domes and cooled rapidly with fine-grained feldspar subsequently altered to halloysite. The IMERYS plant in Matauri Bay separates the clay from the quartz-cristobalite matrix with an ∼20% yield of halloysite. The principal market is for high-quality porcelain and bone china that require low levels of Fe2O3 and TiO2. Deposits with high levels of halloysite occur in China, Turkey and the USA. The Dragon mine in Utah, USAwas recently reopened by Applied Minerals Inc. and now produces halloysite from zones of up to 100% white halloysite. Smaller occurrences of tubular halloysite are mined in China, Turkey and elsewhere from masses of comparatively pure clay that appear to have crystallized directly from solutions in which Al and Si were soluble.


Clay Minerals ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Ruiz Cruz

AbstractIn order to determine the relative influence of palaeoenvironmental and diagenetic processes in clay assemblages, as well as their significance, both fine- and coarse-grained sediments from the Campo de Gibraltar flysch have been studied by means of X-ray diffraction, optical and electron microscopy, and chemical analysis. Diagenetic modifications appear to be lithologically controlled and mainly affect coarse-grained sediments, where Fe-chlorites, illite and kaolinite are the more characteristic authigenic clay minerals. The evolution of detrital assemblages, determined in fine-grained beds, indicates that, from Cretaceous to Eocene times, clay mineralogy, characterized by the opposite kaolinite+smectite and illite + I-S mixed-layer assemblages, was mainly controlled by sources, climate and transport processes. On the other hand, from the Oligocene, clay mineral assemblages, characterized either by the abundance of kaolinite, or by the illite+chlorite association, mainly reflect the petrology of source rocks, as a consequence of climatic cooling and the increasing tectonic activity, which impede the development of soils.


Geophysics ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Kariya ◽  
T. J. Shankland

This study provides values of electrical conductivity of possible lower crustal materials to assist interpretation of lower crustal magnetotelluric soundings. We present mean values of conductivity measurements collected from the literature for dry mafic and silicic rocks in the temperature range of 500°C to 1000°C. We observe statistically significant differences between rock types: mafic rocks are better conductors than granites by about half an order of magnitude and within the mafic group, aphanitic (fine‐grained) rocks have higher conductivity than phaneritic (coarse‐grained) ones. “Best‐fitting” curves of log conductivity versus temperature are presented for each rock type to show mean log conductivity values together with standard deviations so that most probable temperature ranges can be inferred from conductivity. Because the laboratory rocks are dry, their conductivities are lower at a given temperature than they would be if fluids or volatiles were present; hence any temperatures inferred from magnetotelluric (MT) contivities are upper bounds.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 882-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette Oddershede ◽  
Marta Majkut ◽  
Qinghua Cao ◽  
Søren Schmidt ◽  
Jonathan P. Wright ◽  
...  

A method for the extension of the three-dimensional X-ray diffraction technique to allow the extraction of domain volume fractions in polycrystalline ferroic materials is presented. This method gives access to quantitative domain volume fractions of hundreds of independent embedded grains within a bulk sample. Such information is critical to furthering our understanding of the grain-scale interactions of ferroic domains and their influence on bulk properties. The method also provides a validation tool for mesoscopic ferroic domain modelling efforts. The mathematical formulations presented here are applied to tetragonal coarse-grained Ba0.88Ca0.12Zr0.06Ti0.94O3and rhombohedral fine-grained (0.82)Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3–(0.18)Bi0.5K0.5TiO3electroceramic materials. The fitted volume fraction information is used to calculate grain-scale non-180° ferroelectric domain switching strains. The absolute errors are found to be approximately 0.01 and 0.03% for the tetragonal and rhombohedral cases, which had maximum theoretical domain switching strains of 0.47 and 0.54%, respectively. Limitations and possible extensions of the technique are discussed.


Author(s):  
A. V. Vershinin ◽  
E. G. Belyakova ◽  
M. V. Vershinina ◽  
E. V. Polyakov ◽  
V. G. Bamburov ◽  
...  

By X-ray diffraction analysis and Raman spectroscopy, we studied samples of fine-grained graphite MPG-7 with detected chemical and structural defects. We determined the effect of structural and chemical defects on the micro- and macrostructure of graphite and estimated its crystallinity depending on the type of defects detected.


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