AUTHOR=Yang Guang , Chen Guanyu , Cai Zixuan , Quan Xiangqian , Zhu Yang 

TITLE=Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument and spectral analysis for deep-ocean Fe-Mn crusts

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1135058

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2023.1135058

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=Marine ferromanganese crusts are potentially important metal resources. The deep-ocean research and survey ships often need to carry out rapid chemical element component analysis of mineral resources, so as to plan for the geological resource exploration mission. The laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy can obtain the spectrum of chemical elements by the plasma excited by high-energy laser irradiation on the surface of the sample. A laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy optical system for the detection of deep-ocean ferromanganese crusts is designed and built, which can meet the requirements of near situ chemical component detection of deep-ocean mineral resources on ocean-going survey ships. Hyperspectral data of Fe-Mn crusts is carried out by LIBS system during a deep-sea exploration mission at a depth of 2490m in the South China Sea. The experimental parameters of laser energy and spectral acquisition delay is optimized for improving the spectral measurement accuracy. Based on the free calibration method, the significant spectral features of the chemical elements Fe and Mn were obtained by fitting alignment with the NIST chemical element spectral library. The LIBS instrument can be placed on board long-range survey vessels in the future to provide a fast, convenient, accurate economical detection method for deep-ocean resource exploration.