Portable x-ray diffractometer for field studies.

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The proposal requests funds to purchase a portable X-ray Diffractometer that also provides chemical information via X-ray Fluorecence. This innovative instrument will be used to identify minerals that are critical for environmental studies, basin analysis, diagenetic studies and mineral exploration. The basis of the technology is that each mineral has a unique crystal structure and when studied with X-ray diffraction, each mineral provides a unique X-ray signal. The applicants and their students and PDFs will use the diffractometer to study minerals that occur in mine waste and saline lakes in Canada, to characterize diagenetic clay and carbonate minerals in fluid evolution studies of sedimentary basins, and to characterize minerals in soil samples collected to explore for undercover Cu, Zn, Au and U deposits. Often these minerals are very fine grained because they form from the rapid evaporation of fluids or the direct alteration of solids and they are very difficult to distinguish in the field. Some of these minerals are also highly reactive and may hydrate, dehydrate, deliquesce, oxidize or change in some other fashion before they can be returned to the laboratory for study. The portable diffractometer will allow the identification of these minerals in the field where they occur, permitting the researcher to adjust the sampling strategy or emphasis based on the immediate results provided by the diffractometer.