Publication Date
4-2020
First Advisor
Ginny Peterson
Abstract
The focus of this study is to quantify the water content in grains of the mineral olivine collected from the Buck Creek Ultramafic Suite–a fragment of ancient ocean crust emplaced into the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. Previous work on these samples includes Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis. EBSD data can constrain temperature and stress conditions of olivine deformation under different levels of hydration. The water in olivine was analyzed using a Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. The olivine grains are doubly polished in preparation for FTIR analysis. The machine scans the grains with an infrared beam, collecting wavenumbers absorbed by the infrared beam. Amplitude peaks at specific wavenumbers are related to specific compounds, one of which is water. These analyses of water content will be used to inform and further constrain deformation conditions inferred from earlier work on these samples.
ScholarWorks Citation
Byars, Thomas, "Quantifying Water Content in Olivine From North Carolina Dunites Using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy" (2020). Student Scholars Day Posters. 5.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ssd_posters/5
