Water uptake of quartz investigated by means of ion-beam analysis

The diffusion of water into quartz was studied by measuring depth profiles of hydrogen and oxygen in hydrothermally treated samples using ion-beam analysis methods. Diffusion data were obtained in the temperature range 60 to 200 degrees C. It was found that the initial II content of the individual quartz specimen plays a crucial role for the diffusion rate, which also depends on the orientation of the sample surface relative to the quartz c-axis. External factors which possibly influence the diffusion data were examined. Hydrogen depth profiles measured on a prehistoric quartz artifact were found to be compatible with an extrapolation of the diffusion data to ambient temperature.