Abstract
Generally, it has been assumed that signal intensity variations in back-scattered electron (BSE) images of minerals are mainly controlled by chemical heterogeneity. This is especially true for images of single crystals, where effects of different crystal orientations with respect to the incident beam on the observed BSE are excluded. In contrast, we show that local variations of the structural state within single-crystals (i.e., degree of lattice order or lattice imperfectness) may also have dramatic effects on the back-scattering of electrons. As an example, we present BSE images of single-crystals of natural zircon, ZrSiO4, whose intensity patterns are predominantly controlled by structural heterogeneity, whereas effects of chemical variations are mostly negligible. In the case of natural zircon, structural heterogeneity affecting the BSE patterns is predominantly due to heterogeneous accumulation of radiation damage. We attempt to explain our observations with lowered penetration and channeling and, thus, enhanced back-scattering of electrons in more radiation-damaged internal zones and microareas. Back-scattered electron contrast of natural zircon is, therefore, considered as a special case of electron channeling contrast. This phenomenon seems to have been generally underappreciated in the discussion of BSE images of radiation-damaged minerals thus far.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Presidential Address to the Mineralogical Society of America, Salt Lake City, October 18, 2005: Mineral surfaces and the prebiotic selection and organization of biomolecules
- A rare garnet-tourmaline-sillimanite-biotite-ilmenite-quartz assemblage from the granulite-facies region of south-central Massachusetts
- Effects of natural radiation damage on back-scattered electron images of single crystals of minerals
- Thermal diffusivity of olivine-group minerals at high temperature
- Quantum mechanical vs. empirical potential modeling of uranium dioxide (UO2) surfaces: (111), (110), and (100)
- AXANES study of Cu speciation in high-temperature brines using synthetic fluid inclusions
- A new approach to determine and quantify structural units in silicate glasses using micro-reflectance Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy
- Titanium incorporation and VITi3+ -IVTi4+ charge transfer in synthetic diopside
- Hugoniot and impact-induced phase transition of magnesite
- Finite element modeling of elastic volume changes in fluid inclusions: Comparison with experiment
- Thermodynamics of mixing in pyrope-grossular, Mg3Al2Si3O12-Ca3Al2Si3O12, solid solution from lattice dynamics calculations and Monte Carlo simulations
- Does antigorite really contain 4- and 8-membered rings of tetrahedra?
- New insight into crystal chemistry of topaz: A multi-methodological study
- Tetrahedrally coordinated boron in tourmalines from the liddicoatite-elbaite series from Madagascar: Structure, chemistry, and infrared spectroscopic studies
- Recovery of stishovite-structure at ambient conditions out of shock-generated amorphous silica
- New experimental data on biotite + magnetite + sanidine saturated phonolitic melts and application to the estimation of magmatic water fugacity
- Structural effects of pressure on triclinic chlorite: A single-crystal study
- New high-pressure phase relations in CaSnO3
- A high-pressure Raman spectroscopic study of hafnon, HfSiO4
- Single-crystal elasticity of brucite, Mg(OH)2, to 15 GPa by Brillouin scattering
- The effect of composition on Cr2+/Cr3+ in silicate melts
- Phosphohedyphane, Ca2Pb3(PO4)3Cl, the phosphate analog of hedyphane: Description and crystal structure
- Synthesis of novel leadmolybdenum and leadtungsten oxyhalides with the pinalite structure, Pb3MoO5Cl2 and Pb3WO5Br2
- Depolymerization effect of water in aluminosilicate glasses: Direct evidence from 1H-27Al heteronuclear correlation NMR
- Hydroxylellestadite from Cioclovina Cave (Romania): Microanalytical, structural, and vibrational spectroscopy data
- Matioliite, the Mg-analog of burangaite, from Gentil mine, Mendes Pimentel, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and other occurrences
- Letter. Crystallographic alignments in a coccolith (Pleurochrysis carterae) revealed by electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD)
- Letter. High-pressure study of FeS, between 20 and 120 GPa, using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction
Articles in the same Issue
- Presidential Address to the Mineralogical Society of America, Salt Lake City, October 18, 2005: Mineral surfaces and the prebiotic selection and organization of biomolecules
- A rare garnet-tourmaline-sillimanite-biotite-ilmenite-quartz assemblage from the granulite-facies region of south-central Massachusetts
- Effects of natural radiation damage on back-scattered electron images of single crystals of minerals
- Thermal diffusivity of olivine-group minerals at high temperature
- Quantum mechanical vs. empirical potential modeling of uranium dioxide (UO2) surfaces: (111), (110), and (100)
- AXANES study of Cu speciation in high-temperature brines using synthetic fluid inclusions
- A new approach to determine and quantify structural units in silicate glasses using micro-reflectance Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy
- Titanium incorporation and VITi3+ -IVTi4+ charge transfer in synthetic diopside
- Hugoniot and impact-induced phase transition of magnesite
- Finite element modeling of elastic volume changes in fluid inclusions: Comparison with experiment
- Thermodynamics of mixing in pyrope-grossular, Mg3Al2Si3O12-Ca3Al2Si3O12, solid solution from lattice dynamics calculations and Monte Carlo simulations
- Does antigorite really contain 4- and 8-membered rings of tetrahedra?
- New insight into crystal chemistry of topaz: A multi-methodological study
- Tetrahedrally coordinated boron in tourmalines from the liddicoatite-elbaite series from Madagascar: Structure, chemistry, and infrared spectroscopic studies
- Recovery of stishovite-structure at ambient conditions out of shock-generated amorphous silica
- New experimental data on biotite + magnetite + sanidine saturated phonolitic melts and application to the estimation of magmatic water fugacity
- Structural effects of pressure on triclinic chlorite: A single-crystal study
- New high-pressure phase relations in CaSnO3
- A high-pressure Raman spectroscopic study of hafnon, HfSiO4
- Single-crystal elasticity of brucite, Mg(OH)2, to 15 GPa by Brillouin scattering
- The effect of composition on Cr2+/Cr3+ in silicate melts
- Phosphohedyphane, Ca2Pb3(PO4)3Cl, the phosphate analog of hedyphane: Description and crystal structure
- Synthesis of novel leadmolybdenum and leadtungsten oxyhalides with the pinalite structure, Pb3MoO5Cl2 and Pb3WO5Br2
- Depolymerization effect of water in aluminosilicate glasses: Direct evidence from 1H-27Al heteronuclear correlation NMR
- Hydroxylellestadite from Cioclovina Cave (Romania): Microanalytical, structural, and vibrational spectroscopy data
- Matioliite, the Mg-analog of burangaite, from Gentil mine, Mendes Pimentel, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and other occurrences
- Letter. Crystallographic alignments in a coccolith (Pleurochrysis carterae) revealed by electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD)
- Letter. High-pressure study of FeS, between 20 and 120 GPa, using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction