An oreXpress, oreXplorer or oreXpert field spectrometer with EZ-ID mineral identification software can be used in the field to identify carbonates in the major groups: calcite, dolomite and aragonite. Within these groups are minerals such as rhodochrosite, azurite, malachite, cerussite, magnesite, smithsonite, siderite, strontianite and witherite. Carbonate ions join with metal cations to form carbonate minerals which show major absorption features at 2290 to 2350 nanometers.

EZ-ID can match your unknown samples to known carbonate samples in its many libraries. It can help you to distinguish among hard to discriminate carbonate minerals such as calcite and dolomite. Dolomite has a feature at 2325nm and calcite has a feature at 2340nm. In general, calcite has features at longer wavelengths than dolomite. EZ-ID matches the target samples to known library samples.

The oreXpress, oreXplorer and oreXpert  deliver full range, UV/VIS/NIR capabilities from 350-2500nm, are lightweight and rugged, include integral autoexposure and auto-dark shutter, and can be ordered with an optional tablet with digital camera, and GPS that can be tagged to your spectra.

In addition, our DARWin Data Acquisition software saves your scans as ASCII files for use (without pre-processing) with third party software, including 3D mapping and mining programs.

Comparing calcite and dolomites spectra in DARWin SP Data Acquisition software multi-plot scan.

Calcite spectra identified by EZ-ID by comparing to three spectral libraries.

Dolomite spectra identified by EZ-ID.