FINE ATOMIC IMAGE OF MICA CLEAVAGE PLANES OBTAINED WITH AN ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE (AFM) AND A NOVEL PROCEDURE FOR IMAGE-PROCESSING

Potassium layers and basal oxygen layers in muscovite and biotite clea vage planes were clearly discerned by an atomic force microscope (AFM) with a novel procedure for image processing. Unit cell sizes of musco vite and biotite determined by this procedure were in good accordance with those determined by X-ray structural analysis. Expected differenc es in the structures of muscovite and biotite, that is, the atomic arr angement of oxygen in the tetrahedral sheet, were clearly demonstrated from the processed images. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.