Surficial phase-identification and structural profiles from weathered natural pyrites: A grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction study

Abstract

Five pyrites with original crystal face (1 0 0) with different tarnish colours were selected from one pyrite-bearing ore sample from Tongling multi-metal deposit, Anhui, China. They are henna mottled with dark violet, yellow mottled with red, yellow, blue mottled with violet and reddish brown in surface colour. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffractometry (GIXRD) was used to study the phases formed or precipitated on the surface of pyrite (1 0 0) face during chemical weathering. By changing the incident angle, GIXRD can provide information on the changes in the mineral phases from the surface as a function of depth. Products formed or precipitated on the surface of pyrite (1 0 0) face are one or several sulfur or iron-bearing hydrated oxides and include gypsum, jalpaite, goethite, goldichite. The sulfur-bearing minerals present on the surface imply the oxidation of sulfur to sulfate, or the reduction of sulfur to sulfide. By analyzing a series of GIXRD patterns obtained at different angles of incidence for a single pyrite, the mineral assemblage differs from the surface into the body of the crystal. Taking the reddish brown sample as an example, four diffraction profiles at 2.575, 2.2105, 1.9118 and 1.613 Å are present in the pattern of a 2° incident angle experiment whereas they cannot be found at a GIXRD angle smaller than 0.6°.