BLUELIGHT FLUORESCENCE OF MARINE SEDIMENTS

Mineral fluorescence under different portions of the visible and invisible light spectrum has a long history of scientific study. In our study of marine sediments from the Georgia Bight, we have utilized the blue portion of the light spectrum in the 445 nm range. The use of fluorescence has proven very useful in microscopic analyses of carbonate minerals. While the sediment prism of the inner-to-mid continental shelf in the southeastern Atlantic is predominantly silicaeous, dissolution and deterioration of marine shell contributes a significant amount to the fabric of any sediment sample. Together with carbonate minerals such as dolomite, eroded from terrestrial rock and redeposited on the shelf, a potentially robust fluorescent response was expected and observed in samples. In an effort to identify specific minerals responsible for any observed fluorescence, x-ray diffraction as well as SEM-EDX were utilized. This combined methodology of the study of luminescent excitation and x-ray spectroscopy has produced the results reported herein.