Experimental and theoretical study of the structural environment of magnesium in minerals and silicate glasses using X-ray absorption near-edge structure

Abstract

X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Mg K-edge is used to obtain information on magnesium environment in minerals, silicate and alumino-silicate glasses. First-principles XANES calculations are performed for minerals using a plane-wave density functional formalism with core-hole effects treated in a supercell approach. The good agreement obtained between experimental and theoretical spectra provides useful information to interpret the spectral features. With the help of calculation, the position of the first peak of XANES spectra is related to both coordination and polyhedron distortion changes. In alumino-silicate glasses, magnesium is found to be mainly 5-fold coordinated to oxygen whatever the aluminum saturation index value. In silicate glasses, magnesium coordination increases from 4 in Cs-, Rb- and K-bearing glasses to 5 in Na- and Li-bearing glasses but remains equal as the polymerization degree of the glass varies. The variation of the C feature (position and intensity) is strongly related to the alkali type providing information on the medium range order.