Description
The ViaSpec-Geo™ is an automated multi-wavelength scanner for minerals such as drill core samples. The system can measure up to 4” wide and 18” long samples, preferably with a flat cut surface. The system can support up to five hyperspectral camera stations. Each station has the spectral camera and illumination system. The user loads the sample into a sample holder. The system transports the sample from station to station and measures a hyperspectral image for the sample, outputs the spectral results and scales the images to overlap for easier comparative evaluation.
Spectroscopy of Minerals
It is known that minerals develop spectral signatures in the various spectral regions. For the various spectral regions there are optical instruments that can record the visible, infrared and other characteristic spectra of minerals. Based on the spectral information, the different materials can be identified from previously recorded spectral libraries. Hyperspectral Imaging of drill core samples have been measured with different spectroscopic methods but the conventional methods only measure an average of an area or a small section of the available surface of the sample. Hyperspectral imaging is capable of exploring the spectral signatures of each point of samples. The spatial distribution of the specific minerals obtained using hyperspectral imaging describes not only the composition and location of the minerals but the genesis of the geologic samples can be inferred from the images. One sample presentation for hyperspectral imaging is the sectioning of the approximately 4” diameter core samples. The core samples are placed in a holder that positions the flat cut surface perpendicular to the observing hyperspectral cameras. All of the hyperspectral imaging cameras applied by the ViaSpec-Geo are push-broom type. Using this technique, the sample needs to be moved under the observation line of the cameras at a uniform slow rate. A hypercube of data is collected line-by-line from the whole measured surface. The data contains the respective spectra for each point of the sample.
