Imaging and visualising nanometre scale surface geometry of a crystalline mineral (SiO2) in monochromatic spectra

Abstract

: Digital microphotography and image analysis is considered as an important tool in sedimentology and mineralogy for the assessment of physical characteristics at micro and nano level. In this paper the present authors attempted to apply digital imaging technique to visualise the surface geometry of Quartz at nanometre scale. For that purpose a quartz specimen was picked up from microphotography of a thick section of sediment layer and 1µm X 1 µm base image was prepared for digital operation with sophisticated software. Reflectance capacity of the particle has been considered to measure the surface condition. An automated contour plotting was done from the base image. Surface condition was also analysed by reflective radiance measurement. Four images based on greyscale, black body law, pseudo colour composition and landscape were prepared for detailed assessment of quartz nanomorphology. A 3D image was also consulted for understanding the geometry of the surface of quartz.