Quantitative phase analysis of heavy minerals by Rietveld method using SR-XRD data and its application to the provenance analysis of ancient ceramics

Abstract

In this paper, we examined the performance of quantitative mineralogical analysis using Rietveld pattern fitting method. Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data of an artificial mixture of two to four mineral phases composed of five natural heavy minerals which include garnet, epidote, titanite, hornblende and clinopyroxene were used in the analyses. Quantitative information was extracted from refined individual scale factors and unit-cell volumes (derived from refined unit-cell parameters), obtained with a Rietveld program, RIETAN-FP. The method developed was applied to the provenance study of ancient ceramics.