Compositional tomography of a gold-bearing sample by Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

This contribution presents the first results of compositional tomography of a geological sample. The volume render of 6 x 8 x 1 mm(3) was constructed by assembling 63 compositional maps acquired in 21 min (19.5 s/layer) by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), which determines the chemical composition of the analysed spot from the light emitted by a plasma produced by the laser. This technique is, therefore, able to directly reveal the 3D distribution of chemical elements in a sample. As an example, the spatial distribution and 3D geometry of visible gold in an ultramafic schist are presented. Inasmuch as this newly developed portable LIBS instrument is able to the rapidly characterize the 3D geometry of any geological materials, it has a high potential to be useful for the mining industry and for a wide range of geosciences, such as structural geology, petrology, sedimentology and economic geology.