Quantitative Mineralogy of Planetary Silicate Ternary Mixtures Using Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

A 532‐nm‐excited lunar Raman spectrometer (LRS) has been selected as a scientific payload of the Chang'e‐7 mission, exploring mineralogy assemblages in the lunar south polar region. However, the quantification of dark‐colored silicate minerals via Raman spectroscopy is an urgent requirement for upcoming Raman applications in future lunar and planetary explorations. Therefore, we conducted detailed laboratory studies on the Raman quantification of lunar silicate minerals using ternary mixtures of feldspar, olivine, and augite. Quantitative models were established employing the observed linear relationship between Raman integrated intensities and mineral proportions. The significant correlation coefficients (>0.94) and small RMSE (≤4.20 wt.%) confirmed the performance of these models. A series of methods (multipoint sampling, multispectral averaging, peak area extraction, and spectral parameter ratios) were jointly used to ensure that the models were not significantly affected by crystal orientation, chemical inhomogeneity, and instruments. Factors (σ2/σ1) describing the relative Raman scattering cross sections were introduced to calibrate the Raman counts. Our results indicated that the relative Raman scattering efficiency of feldspar, olivine, and augite is 1.4:2.4:1, which can be used to improve the quantitative accuracy of the point‐counting method if polymineralic mixing spectra are dominant. The models were validated across different samples using laboratory mixtures and lunar soil (CE5C0600). The lithology of the Chang'e‐5 soils is basaltic/gabbroic according to the quantitative mineralogy returned from our models that is consistent with the results from traditional methods. This research will be of particular significance for accurately determining the mineral abundances for Chang'e‐7 and other planetary missions. As such, crucial information can be inferred to understand the geological evolution of the exploration regions.

Characterizing Hydrated Sulfates and Altered Phases in Jezero Crater Fan and Floor Geologic Units With SHERLOC on Mars 2020

“…Other groups of silicates such as plagioclase feldspar have not been definitively identified so far because of the low Raman scattering cross‐sections of silicates compared to sulfates and carbonates. Feldspar in particular has a smaller cross‐section than olivine and pyroxene (Haskin et al., 1997; Qi et al., 2023). The detection of feldspar as well as other silicates such as phyllosilicates and amphiboles with SHERLOC is further made difficult because the prominent Raman peaks of many silicates including feldspar, phyllosilicate, and amphibole are found <800 cm −1 .…”