Mössbauer, X-ray and Magnetic Studies of Black Sand from the Italian Mediterranean Sea

Saverio Braccini, Olivier Pellegrinelli, Karl Krämer

Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics (AEC), Laboratory for High Energy Physics (LHEP), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

DOI: 10.4236/wjnst.2013.33016                

Abstract

The study of natural magnetic sands is instrumental to investigate the geological aspects of their formation and of the origin of their territory. In particular, Mossbauer spectroscopy provides unique information on their iron content and on the oxidation state of iron in their mineral composition. The Italian coast on the Mediterranean Sea near Rome is known for the presence of highly magnetic black sands of volcanic origin. A study of the room temperature Mossbauer spectrum, powder X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements of a sample of black magnetic sand collected on the seashore of the town of Ladispoli is performed. This study reveals magnetite as main constituent with iron in both tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Minor constituents are the iron minerals hematite and ilmenite, the iron containing minerals diopsite, gossular, and allanite, as well as ubiquitous sanidine, quartz, and calcite.

Keywords

Mössbauer Spectroscopy; X-ray Diffraction (XRD); Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS);Magnetic Sands; Iron Minerals

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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