Semi‐Quantification of the Calcium Carbonate in Marine Sediments by Visible and Near‐Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy

Abstract As one of the most widespread components in marine sediments, calcium carbonate (CaCO3) plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and climate changes. To efficiently semi‐quantify the CaCO3 concentration, a more effective, non‐destructive, economic, and accurate technique is required. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) has been widely used for the detection and quantification of minerals but has been less studied for CaCO3. This study synthesized a series of samples with well‐determined content of CaCO3 to analyze the visible and near‐infrared DRS characteristics. Results show that the intensity of the second derivative of Kubelka‐Munk (K‐M) remission functions of the DRS spectra at 2,340 nm (I2340) is linearly correlated with the CaCO3 content. Then, the new proxy I2340 was applied for marine sediments from the Pacific Ocean with known CaCO3 concentrations determined previously by chemical methods, and the robustness of the I2340 as the proxy for CaCO3 concentration was attested.