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Provenance determination of sapphires and rubies using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
-
Kristen A. Kochelek
,
Catherine E. McManus
Published/Copyright:
August 12, 2015
Abstract
Determination of gem provenance is a topic of research in the gemological community for financial, security, and societal reasons. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and multivariate analysis have the potential to revolutionize the field of gem provenance. This study acquired LIBS spectra from 569 rough sapphire and ruby specimens from 21 localities in 11 countries. The spectra were analyzed using the multivariate technique partial least-squares regression (PLSR) in separate algorithms for sapphires and rubies. Each algorithm consists of a series of PLS models. Each model compares the spectra from a locality of interest to the spectra from all other localities in the database. Success rates, as determined by the percent of correct provenance identifications, are 98.9% (sapphire) and 96.0% (ruby) for country of origin and 97.9% (sapphire) and 95.4% (ruby) for deposit of origin. Individual deposits are not recognized by the concentrations of a few elements; rather, the unique compositional signature of each deposit consists of the ratios of many elements, primarily Ca, Zr, Fe, Ba, Mt, Ti, Sr, Si, Cr, H, C, and Li, some of which may reside in inclusions. This work demonstrates that determination of country or deposit of origin may be related to a quantitative measure with a high level of success.
Received: 2014-9-4
Accepted: 2015-3-18
Published Online: 2015-8-12
Published in Print: 2015-8-1
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Keywords for this article
Ruby;
sapphire;
provenance;
laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy;
chemometrics
Articles in the same Issue
- Data, ideas, and the nature of scientific progress
- Beyond the equilibrium paradigm: How consideration of kinetics enhances metamorphic interpretation
- Magmatic volatiles (H, C, N, F, S, Cl) in the lunar mantle, crust, and regolith: Abundances, distributions, processes, and reservoirs
- The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites
- Degassing pathways of Cl-, F-, H-, and S-bearing magmas near the lunar surface: Implications for the composition and Cl isotopic values of lunar apatite
- Uranium scavenging during mineral replacement reactions
- New structure of high-pressure body-centered orthorhombic Fe2SiO4
- Spectroscopic study of ordering in non-stoichiometric magnesium aluminate spinel
- High-pressure behavior of cuprospinel CuFe2O4: Influence of the Jahn-Teller effect on the spinel structure
- Field and model constraints on silicic melt segregation by compaction/hindered settling: The role of water and its effect on latent heat release
- Formation of rhyolite at the Okataina Volcanic Complex, New Zealand: New insights from analysis of quartz clusters in plutonic lithics
- Experimental investigation of F, Cl, and OH partitioning between apatite and Fe-rich basaltic melt at 1.0–1.2 GPa and 950–1000 °C
- Synthesis, characterization, and thermodynamics of arsenates forming in the Ca-Fe(III)-As(V)-NO3 system: Implications for the stability of Ca-Fe arsenates
- High-pressure phases of cordierite from single-crystal X-ray diffraction to 15 GPa
- Planar microstructures in zircon from paleo-seismic zones
- Ultra-deep subduction of Yematan eclogite in the North Qaidam UHP belt, NW China: Evidence from phengite exsolution in omphacite
- Elastic wave velocity anomalies of anorthite in a subducting plate: In situ experiments
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- Grain size measurement from two-dimensional micro-X-ray diffraction: Laboratory application of a radial integration technique
- Decrease of hydrogen incorporation in forsterite from CO2-H2O-rich kimberlitic liquid
- Provenance determination of sapphires and rubies using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
- Structural insights and elasticity of single-crystal antigorite from high-pressure Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy measured in the (010) plane
- Magnetic anisotropy in natural amphibole crystals
- Resolving oxygen isotopic disturbance in zircon: A case study from the low δ18O Scourie dikes, NW Scotland
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- Chemical interactions between a sedimentary diapir and surrounding magma: Evidence from the Phepane Dome and Bushveld Complex, South Africa
- The crystal structures of Mg2Fe2C4O13, with tetrahedrally coordinated carbon, and Fe13O19, synthesized at deep mantle conditions
- New Mineral Names
- Book Review: Geodynamics, Third edition.
