Chapter 5
Mössbauer Spectroscopy with High
Spatial Resolution: Spotlight
on Geoscience
Catherine McCammon
Abstract Mössbauer spectroscopy is an important tool in geoscience. Samples are
often small or heterogeneous, requiring measurements with small beam size. Such
measurements can be carried out in the laboratory using a radioactive source, or at
a synchrotron facility in either time or energy domain. This chapter covers practical
aspects of carrying out Mössbauer measurements with high spatial resolution in a
tutorial style that covers radioactive source properties, how to choose between time
and energy domain, practical aspects associated with preparing the sample and setting
up a measurement, useful free software for data analysis and analytical data mapping,
and concludes with a showcase of research questions in geoscience that have been
addressed using Mössbauer spectroscopy with high spatial resolution.
List of Acronyms
APS
Advanced photon source
EFG
Electric field gradient
ESRF
European synchrotron radiation facility
FIB
Focussed ion beam
GIS
Geographic information system
GKE
Goldanskii-Karyagin effect
GUI
Graphical user interface
NFS
Nuclear forward scattering
PETRA III Positron-electron tandem ring accelerator III
QGIS
Quantum geographic information system
RPS
Radioactive point source
RCS
Radioactive conventional source
SMS
Synchrotron Mössbauer source
SNR
Signal to noise ratio
C. McCammon (B)
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
e-mail: catherine.mccammon@uni-bayreuth.de
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Yoshida and G. Langouche (eds.), Modern Mössbauer Spectroscopy,
Topics in Applied Physics 137, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9422-9_5
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