X-ray microanalysis of volcanic ash

The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland demonstrated the disruptive nature of high-level volcanic ash emissions to the world's air traffic.

The chemistry of volcanic material is complex and varied. Different eruptions yield both compositional and morphological variation. Equally a single eruption, such as that in Iceland will evolve over time and may potentially produce a range of volcanic products of varying composition and morphology. This variability offers the petrologist the opportunity to derive a tracer to the origins both spatially and temporally of a single particle by means of electron microbeam analysis.

EPMA of volcanic ash is now an established technique for this type of analysis as used in tephrachronology. However, airborne particulate material may, as in the case of Eyjafjallajokull, result in a particle size that is too small and too dispersed for preparation of standard EPMA mounts. Consequently SEM-EDS techniques are preferred for this type of quantitative analysis. Results of quantitative SEM-EDS analysis yield data with a larger precision error than EPMA yet sufficient to source the original eruption. Uncoated samples analyzed using variable pressure SEM yield slightly poorer results at modest pressures.