Characterization and Identification of Natural Amorphous Rocks Using Infrared, Raman, and Low-Frequency Raman Spectroscopy, Including the Application of Boson Peaks.

Abstract

In this study, Raman spectra (3700-10 cm^-1) and attenuated total reflection infrared-far-infrared (ATR-IR/FIR) spectra (4000-50 cm^-1) including low-frequency region were measured for amorphous rocks, which were five types of obsidians whose formation ages and sources are different and pitchstone to clarify the differences in water content (free and bound water species), their Si-O bonds and possible linkage with a metal ion, and the mean atomic volume. In order to explore these points, we focused on infrared (IR) absorptions of hydroxyl (OH) groups that is observed in the 4000-3000 cm^-1 region, those of Si-O bond that is identified in the 1300-850 cm^-1 region and a Boson peak that appears in a low-frequency region of Raman spectra, respectively. IR absorption of Si-O stretching was detected for all samples and that of OH stretching and H-O-H bending was also detected in some rocks. Therefore, using IR spectroscopy was useful to discriminate each rock based on the water content and the environment of Si-O bonds. On the other hands, a Boson peak could be detected for the low-frequency region below 60 cm^-1 of Raman spectra, which appears in amorphous solids. This study is the first finding that the Raman shift of Boson peak was different among similar natural glassy rocks from multiple sources and it means that the mean atomic volume of samples was different. In addition, sharp bands of Raman scattering which came from inorganic substances such as feldspar helped to identify ingredients in samples. As a results, we made clear that using both IR and Raman including low-frequency regions is effective to identify the same types of natural amorphous rocks.