Minerals Observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM)

Abstract

Pictures from a scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and high resolution microscopy are presented. Samples were collected from the marl layer in Judean Mountains in Israel, and the minerals observed were dolomite, calcite, goethite, and K-feldspar. In sands along the Mediterranean Seashore and the coastal plain in Israel, dark grains were rich in Ti, and quartz grains were covered by clays and hematite. Dust samples included clay minerals, Ti and Fe oxides. Iron oxides (goethite, akaganéite and lepidocrocite) were preserved within halite crystals at the Dead Sea area. In the Atlantis II and Thetis Deeps, in the central Red Sea, hot brines feel the deeps and minerals found in cores were magnetite, goethite, ferroxyhyte, manganite, todorokite, groutite and short range ordered ferrihydrite and singerite. Observation by electron microscopy enables us to see the size of euhedral or unhedral phases. Relations between the minerals are observed. Point analyses yield the chemical composition of the mineral with impurities, and Electron diffraction identifies the crystallography of the minerals.