Abstract

Advent of high-intense x-ray synchrotrons has significantly empowered detection capabilities and stimulated diverse atomic-scale characterization experiments with wide application spectrum extending to under-explored fields such as structural biology and environment. We review the utilization of synchrotron-based techniques (XRF, XRD, XAFS) in mineralogy. While (XRF, XRD) are more regularly employed for basic speciation of minerals, the exploitation of versatile XAFS technique to address advanced problems in mineralogy is clearly limited. We suggest a host of advanced problems that could be addressed by these techniques and should inspire ambitious research for advancing the scope of mineralogy in future.

Keywords: XAFS; XRF; XRD; Minerals; Synchrotron