A fingerprint technique using Mössbauer spectroscopy for the determination of individual chemical iron species in young sediments

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used in order to identify and quantify individual iron species in geochemically immature, anoxic sediments. A large number of counts per channel were allowed to accumulate for each spectrum so that “fine structures” could develop in the spectra. These could be attributed to individual spectral lines. By means of their positions in the Mössbauer spectrum, the spectral lines were identified as corresponding to definite sedimentary iron species. Mathematical simulation then permitted the quantitative determination of the identified chemical forms.