Maritime Antarctica soils studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy and other methods

Soil samples from the King George Island, Antarctica, have been studied by 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, radiometry, neutron activation analysis and chemical analytical methods. X-ray diffractometry measurements have identified soils containing different volume ratios of quartz, feldspar, chlorite as well as hematite. The difference in the phase composition and in the iron distribution among the crystallographic sites of iron-bearing minerals (chlorite, magnetite and hematite) of samples from two different depths was derived from the complex Mössbauer spectra. The differences in the mineral composition, iron distribution, concentration of water soluble salts, pH and radioactivity of certain radionucliedes indicate the occurence of chemical weathering of minerals