¹Matthew R.M.Izawa,²Daniel M.Applin,³Matthew Q.Morison,¹Edward A.Cloutis,¹Paul Mann,⁴Stanley A.Mertzman
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114423]
¹Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University, 827 Yamada, Misasa, Tottori 682-0193, Japan
²Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9, Canada
³Department of Geography, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2B5, Canada
⁴Department of Earth and Environment, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Ilmenite is an important mineral for understanding lunar evolution. Ilmenite is also a primary ore of titanium on the Earth. Here we present a comprehensive examination of the spectral-compositional-structural relationships of ilmenites and related Fesingle bondTi oxides. Ilmenite spectral features of interest include maxima near ~250 nm (due Ti4+-O and Fe2+-O charge transfers), ~335 nm (due to Fe2+-Ti4+ charge transfer), and 950 nm (interband maximum), and absorption features near ~540 nm (due to Fe2+-Ti4+ charge transfers), ~630 nm (due to Ti3+-Ti4+ charge transfers), and a ~ 1300/1600 nm absorption doublet (due to Fe2+ crystal field transitions). Absorption features transition from Fresnel peaks to valley around 400 nm, as absorption coefficients decrease toward longer wavelengths. Ilmenite powders are generally darkest and show the greatest spectral contrast and reflectance rise beyond ~1300 nm for the smallest grain sizes. Other Ti and Fesingle bondTi oxides share some spectral properties with ilmenites but also exhibit many differences. The most common feature they share is a rise in reflectance toward shorter wavelengths below ~500 nm (i.e., blue spectral slope). Ti ± Fe oxide spectra can also exhibit absorption features attributable to Ti, Fe, and Ti ± Fe, and these features vary in intensity, shape and wavelength position due to factors such as Ti and Fe oxidation states, coordination environment, and nearest neighbor cation types. Ilmenite differs most from silicates in the region below ~500 nm: it shows a reflectance increase versus decrease toward shorter wavelengths for silicates, as well as diagnostic Ti/Ti-Fe maxima or minima. Thus, detection of ilmenite in mixtures is best accomplished by including the UV region in spectral analysis. With increasing ilmenite in mixtures, its diagnostic spectral features become increasingly apparent.