The use of the laser Raman microprobe for the determination of salinity in fluid inclusions

The O-H stretching region (2,800-3,800 cm-1) in Raman spectra of aqueous solutions is sensitive to changes in the salt concentration. This permits determination of the salinity in the aqueous phase of fluid inclusions (at room temperature) by calculating skewing parameters from Raman microprobe spectra. The technique does not require detailed knowledge of the fluid composition and can be applied to most chloride solutions which commonly occur in fluid inclusions. Studies of synthetic fluid inclusions from the NaCl-H2O system show that salinities up to halite saturation may be determined to within ±2 wt%. Well-characterized fluid inclusions from the unconformity-related uranium deposits of Nabarlek and Koongarra, Northern Territory, Australia, were studied with the laser Raman microprobe. The salinities determined from the Raman spectra are comparable to those obtained using standard microthermometric techniques. The Raman microprobe technique has the advantage of not requiring analogy to binary salt-water phase diagrams which cannot adequately model the complex brines in these inclusions. Variations in the concentration of salt hydrates, observed in Raman spectra of frozen inclusion, validated the salinities derived from the Raman skewing parameters obtained at room temperature. The Raman analyses confirm previous microthermometric evidence for trapping of discrete high and low salinity fluids