Structural, Mineralogical and Quantitative Characterizations of Compositions of Products Linked to Explosive Volcanic Eruption at Haleakala, USA

Abstract

This research focused the analysis vis-à-vis structural, mineralogical and quantitative characterizations of the samples which appeared to be formed from leftover of volcanic eruption sourced from basaltic magma obtained from Haleakala Hill, USA. The results show the presence of natural minerals like pyrolusite, zincite, magnetite, quartz, and diopside with their compositional concentrations in the samples. The geophysical analysis done corroborates the results obtained from the Scanning Electron Micrograph, which confirms the porosity of one of the samples. The X-Ray Diffraction results reveal the average grain sizes of the samples to range between 16 nm and 25 nm. Sample 'A' showed 4.693% weight increase, while sample 'B' showed 7.724% when soaked for some days. This research project prospects in harnessing natural minerals from products of volcanic eruption, though an occurrence regarded as a natural disaster. The work suggests an alternative route to mining of minerals, by exploring the contents of the products of this so-called disaster.

Keywords:  Volcanoes; Minerals; Magma; Characterization; Mining; Explosion