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Nanoscale pseudobrookite layer in the surface glaze of a Japanese sekishu roof tile

¹ Advanced Electron Microscopy Group, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan, ² Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan, and³ Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, 790-8577, Japan

^* E-mail: watanabe.katsuaki{at}nims.go.jp

(Received 12 May 2008; revised 8 September 2008)

The mineralogy of the glazed surfaces of Japanese sekishu roof tiles covered by a crustose lichen – Lecidella asema (Nyl.) Knoph & Hertel – was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The study sought to identify the Ti-Fe mineral observed as a low concentration of Ti and Fe in a previous study of the glazed surfaces of the same roof tile. The TEM analysis revealed that: (1) a thin layer of the Ti-Fe mineral pseudobrookite exists on the glaze surface; (2) the pseudobrookite consists of well-ordered single crystals, continuously and widely distributed on the glaze surface.

KEYWORDS: TEM, FIB, roof tile, glaze, biomineralization, lichen-rock interaction, pseudobrookite, Japan