Evaluating Synchrotron-Based Scanning Laue Microdiffraction for Mineralogy Mapping in Heterogeneous Samples

Synchrotron Laue microdiffraction imaging (MDI) is a well-used technique in material science research and environmental research to determine the strain/stress and orientation of quartz and calcite crystallites. However, Laue MDI has unrealized potential to provide spatially resolved mineralogical information for geochemical and contaminated site samples. In this manuscript, three constructed mineral mixtures and two environmental samples were analyzed with Laue MDI to illustrate the strengths, limitations/challenges, and applicability of the technique for environmental research. Mixture 1 (quartz, calcite, and magnetite), mixture 2 (quartz, calcite, magnetite, and clinochlore), and mixture 3 (calcite, hematite, sphalerite, and arupite) were constructed to highlight the potential limitations of the technique. The mixtures illustrate the potential of Laue MDI and X-ray fluorescence imaging for clearly identifying environmentally relevant contaminant and sorbent minerals while demonstrating that minerals sm...