Carbonate minerals occur in great abundance in the Earth’s crust, with calcite (CaCO₃) being the most widespread representative. These minerals are classified into four structural groups: calcite, dolomite, aragonite, and hydroxyl-bearing carbonate groups. Members of the calcite and dolomite groups crystallize in the rhombohedral system, whereas aragonite adopts an orthorhombic structure, and hydroxyl-bearing carbonates are characterized by monoclinic symmetry. Carbonates play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, serving as major carriers of carbon into the deep Earth. Consequently, the investigation of their physicochemical properties under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions is of considerable scientific interest. Raman spectroscopy is widely employed to obtain thermodynamic properties of these materials because the vibrational properties of a mineral control several of its thermodynamic properties. In this work, five different carbonate minerals from the calcite, dolomite, and aragonite groups were analyzed by pressure and temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy (calcite, magnesite, dolomite, aragonite, and witherite). Pressures ranged from ambient conditions to approximately 10 GPa, while temperatures ranged from –175 °C to 375 °C, representing a notable extension of the existing literature. From the Raman measurements, values of the isobaric and isothermal Grüneisen parameters were determined, as well as anharmonicity parameters for each of these minerals. The fitting procedures used to obtain these properties included both linear and second-order polynomial m odels for four different Raman modes of the minerals. The results obtained are promising and consistent with previously reported literature data.
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Raman spectroscopy for determining thermodynamic properties of carbonate minerals
Published:
06 March 2026
by MDPI
in The 3rd International Online Conference on Mineral Science
session Mineral Geochemistry: Environmental Applications and Recent Advances
Abstract:
Keywords: Carbonate minerals; high pressure Raman spectroscopy; thermodynamic parameters.
