Who we are?

The University of Lorraine is a 60000 students University covering most of the higher education fields. Among the labs is hosts together with Nation-wide research institutes is GeoRessources. This lab is run under the joint supervision of UL and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). GeoRessources is focussed on natural resources, from their exploration to their exploitation and their impact on territories. Research covers a wide range of topics, from field geology to recycling, including exploitation, recovery, use, risk assessment, life cycles and the associated social and environmental impacts. The laboratory is involved in a number of projects with industrial partners, creating an ecosystem in which there is considerable demand for characterisation of solid geological samples. Hence GeoRessources also developped a strong expertise on solid samples analysis, covering a large spectrum of geochemical and geophysical data types and a variety of scales ranging from sub-micrometre to field distances.

Ambition statements

We will focus on portable spectroscopies during DeepBEAT and more precisely on XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) and LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy). The task will focus on the ways to reconcile XRF and LIBS data so that the quantitative aspect of XRF can be transferred to LIBS to a certain degree. That should help a quick screening of samples on the field, hence reduce sample collection and analysis of low-interest samples.

Technologies

Both XRF and LIBS provide data on the elemental composition of a sample, i.e. of which elements of the periodic table are samples constituted. XRF can be quantitative and provides data from Mg to U. LIBS requires a much higher input from qualified staff to become quantitative and that work has to be redone on each new geological context. However, it provides access to the entire periodic table, including light elements of hight geological interest (Li, C, O, N, F) that are not detectable with XRF and usually has better detection limits. It is also much faster to operate will smaller safety constraints. The work will however not focus on the devices themselves but on the data processing.