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Use of Automated X-Ray Diffraction Analysis in Studies of Natural Hydrothermal Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Paul D. Johnson
Paul D. Johnson*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Riverside, California 92521
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Abstract

The former Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) automated X-ray diffraction data collection and analysis system located at the Riverside campus of the University of California has been upgraded for use in the characterization of samples from natural hydrothermal systems by the addition of an interactive graphics terminal and the rewriting of the computer programs.

The system has the capability of collecting and interpreting patterns from 25-30 samples in one night's unattended operation. The computer's interpretation can be monitored and corrected easily. The pattern and the computed baseline are displayed with the peak locations and intensities, as predicted by the mineral standards file, and calculated mineral intensities superimposed. The system can display a pattern and accept and remember corrections to its interpretation in less than two minutes. The system can also organize and display the interpretations of a suite of samples in both tabular and graphical form.

The mineral identifications, minimum levels of detections and quantities calculated were tested using artificial mixtures of known composition and comparisons with other techniques and found to be adequate. As an example of the system's output, approximately 500 samples of cuttings from 12 boreholes drilled in the Salton Sea geothermal field in California have been run. The mineral modal analyses for samples from each well was produced in a diagrammatic format suitable for displaying on maps to show the three-dimensional distribution of mineral abundances.

The system gives adequate quality of analysis for the mapping of mineral abundances. The main benefit is the assumption of bookkeeping functions thus allowing the analyst to concentrate on the more difficult interpretation problems. The current drawback of the system is the difficulty in dealing with clays.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in X-Ray Analysis , Volume 21: Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis, August 3-5, 1977 , 1977 , pp. 267 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 1977

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References

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