Dimensionality reduction on MIR spectra of powdered silicate glasses as analogues for volcanic ashes

RationaleSilicate glasses are significant components of volcanic products, but spectral libraries typically provide references of crystalline materials rather than amorphous ones, even if blurred/featureless spectra are observed on planetary terrains. Thus, the Petro-Volcanology Research Group (PVRG) started an investigation of the spectral response of silicate glasses developing a database, to distribute spectral data applying the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles 1. We have analyzed these spectra using PCA and, in particular, we focused on MIR range, in which information about silicates arrangement in the material is detectable 2.Fig. 1: a) TAS diagram of all products. Circles:sub-alkaline , triangles: alkaline. b) spectra of the entire datasetMethodologyThe investigated datasets consist of MIR spectra of 20 powdered silicate glasses (