Determination of Fe ions in allanite from Ombo, Palawan through Mössbauer spectroscopy

The process of establishing the valence states of iron in radioactive uranium-thorium bearing mineral allanite is essential in evaluating the effect of radiation in its crystal structure.  57Fe Mossbauer spectrometry has the capability to determine the iron in the different lattice sites with their specific valence and the distortion of their environment.. Transmission 57Fe Mossbauerspectroscopy configuration at room tempeature has been used to investigate iron ions of allanite found in Ombo, Palawan. Mossbauer spectrum shows asymmetric quadrupole split doublet suggesting that the spectrum was a superposition of many sets of doublet subspectra. Spectral deconvolution was then performed based on the notion that Mossbauer spectrum is a superposition of Lorentzian lines. After spectral fitting, the hyperfine parameters were obtained, as well as the iron oxidation states and their sites in the mineral structure. Mossbauer spectrum showed much higher Fe2+ doublet intensity than Fe3+ . 84% of the total Fe is Fe2+.