The application of chemical staining to separate calcite and aragonite minerals for micro-scale isotopic analyses

Staining is a useful laboratory tool for distinguishing specific carbonate minerals from a mixture of carbonates. Feigl's and Meigen's solutions are commonly used to distinguish aragonite from other carbonates. Feigl's solution stains the aragonite surface black and Meigen's stai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGEOCHEMICAL JOURNAL Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 291 - 297
Main Authors Kato, Kazuhiro, Wada, Hideki, Fujioka, Kantaro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published GEOCHEMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 01.01.2003
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Summary:Staining is a useful laboratory tool for distinguishing specific carbonate minerals from a mixture of carbonates. Feigl's and Meigen's solutions are commonly used to distinguish aragonite from other carbonates. Feigl's solution stains the aragonite surface black and Meigen's stains purple, whereas the coexisting calcite remains nochang in color with either solutions. Both methods were applied to an authigenically precipitated carbonate chimney and a recrystallized metamorphic marble. Meigen's solution was favorable to stain fine and euhedral aragonites, but not effective for recrystallized aragonites. Feigl's solution was applicable to identify both types of aragonites. As a sample that demonstrates application of the Meigen's solution, isotopic analyses were carried out on aragonite and calcite separated from the seepage carbonate chimney collected from the Conical seamount of the Mariana forearc.
ISSN:0016-7002
1880-5973
DOI:10.2343/geochemj.37.291