Distribution of Microcrystalline Quartz in Glassy Fulgurites from Garuamukh and Kimin, India

Bhaskar J. Saikia^1*, G. Parthasarathy², Rashmi R. Borah³

¹Department of Physics, Anandaram Dhekial Phookan College, Nagaon, India.
²National Geophysical Research Institute (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Hyderabad, India.
³Department of Physics, Nowgong College, Nagaon, India.

DOI: 10.4236/jamp.2015.310161                

Abstract

The presence of microcrystalline quartz particles in fulgurites of Garuamukh and Kimin has been investigated. The compositional and structural studies were carried out at room temperature by using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques. The compositional result shows the major constituent of the fulgurites to be SiO2 with miniature quantities of oxides of Al, Ti, Fe, Ca, and Na. The X-ray diffraction quantified the mixtures of identical amorphous and micro-crystalline phases in the fulgurites samples. Systemetatic investigations of microcrystalline quartz particles have been carried out in midinfrared region of 500 - 1000 cm^-1 based on the assignment of infrared bands of the structural group SiO₄ tetrahedra. In infrared Si-O-Si bending vibration region of quartz, the octahedral characteristic peak is explored in the fulgurites samples with the variation of the particle sizes which is indicative to the presence of microcrystalline quartz. The distribution of the microcrystalline quartz is ascertained by calculating the extinction coefficient. The present study has significant implications in understanding the thermodynamic properties of naturally occurring glasses, which are formed by shock metamorphism.

Keywords

Fulgurites, Microcrystalline Quartz, Spectroscopic Method

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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