| Author | Message | ||
     Michael C Mound (mike) Senior Member Username: mike Post Number: 55 Registered: 7-2007 |
One of my colleagues, who was a pioneer in Remote Sensing some years ago, commented that only TIR would be useful in acquiring quantitative spectra of silica. By silica, he means the accepted jargon of exploration geologists and planetary explorationists, which means SiO2 in the form of quartz. However, I wonder if there isn't a solution within SWIR and MIR. I have not been personally successful in getting a direct spectral activation in NIR with either NIRS or FTIR or AO...the spectrum is pretty much without structure and basically useless...however, with phyllosilicates such as micaceous materials or clays, it is possible to characterize silica mineral associations indirectly(in the general sense). I would be interested in knowing if anyone has had success in acquiring silica spectra either in amorphous or crystalline situations. Of course, water-free silica/glass is the preferred transport transparency medium for NIR. Bearing this in mind, unless there is bound (diagenic) waters and/or waters of crystallization, what hope might there be for direct detection. I had been checking chemometric clades by constructing cladograms, which gives some useful clues, but... Or, am I tilting at water-free windmills? Thanks, Mike |