Microscopic Iron Metal on Glass and Minerals—A Tool for Studying Regolith Maturity

✍ Scribed by C.C. Allen; R.V. Morris; H.V. Lauer Jr.; D.S. McKay

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1008 KB
• Volume: 104
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.1993.1102

✦ Synopsis

We have produced submicrometer iron metal blebs on the surfaces and within the volumes of glass and mineral grains by the method of high-temperature hydrogen reduction. This technique produces significant alterations in the visible and near-infrared reflectance spectra of basaltic glass, olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase. Changes include darkening and reddening of the reflectance spectra and masking of individual spectral features. Such changes match those ascribed to increasing maturity in lunar soil. The degree of spectral alteration is correlated with the percentage of iron metal in the reduced glass and mineral samples. The reduction method offers a useful tool with which to investigate the maturation process. 1993 Academic Press, Inc.