Moganite in selected Polish chert samples: The evidence from MIR, Raman and X-ray studies

• The X-ray powder diffraction measurements have shown that moganite most probably exists in the selected Polish cherts.
• The MIR spectra have revealed the presence of an analytical band (characteristic of moganite).
• Raman spectroscopic studies confirmed the presence of moganite in tested cherts.

The authors discuss the results of structural investigations (XRD, MIR, Raman) of Polish cherts from different geological formations. The X-ray diffraction analyses explicitly confirmed the presence of moganite, which was identified on the basis of satellite XRD peaks positioned/occurring close to the quartz reflections and the additional reflections with the dhkl values 4.456 and 3.101 Ǻ, and established its amounts as varying between about 1 and above 17 wt%. The mid-infrared and Raman spectroscopy also proved the presence of moganite, indicated by the 695 and 560–555 cm−1 bands, respectively. These analytical finds allow to identify moganite in samples containing various SiO2 polymorphs.

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