The Role Integrated Optical, Micro-Raman, and Compositional Analysis of Rock Samples from Former Talc Mines in the Gouverneur Mining District, New York Collections in Trace Evidence
THE MICROSCOPE
2018, Volume 66:1, pp. 51–63
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/YCHB9665
AUTHORS
Brittani D. McNamee and Aaron J. Celestian
ABSTRACT
In this study we compare the morphology and composition by polarized light microscopy (PLM), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) using an electron microprobe of tailings samples from two former talc mines in the Gouverneur Mining District in New York State. The main purpose of this project was to better understand the alteration of amphiboles into talc within these samples. The interaction of these minerals along their grain boundaries is important due to the resulting asbestiform and acicular (i.e., non-asbestiform) morphologies of talc and anthophyllite within the rocks in this mining district. Intensity maps created from micro Raman imaging highlight the different mineral phases present in the samples, while the electron microprobe precisely determines the weight percent oxides of the mineral phases, which aids in their identification. Backscattered electron (BSE) imaging with the microprobe was also used to compare differing mineral compositions with the Raman maps.