Stability relation of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 garnets, major constituents in the Earth's interior |
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| Authors: | Takumi Kato |
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| Abstract: | High-pressure and high temperature experiments at 20 GPa on (Mg,Fe)SiO3 have revealed stability fields of two types of aluminium-free ferromagnesian garnets; non-cubic garnet and cubic garnet (majorite). Majorite garnet is stable only within a limited compositional variation, 0.2 < Fe/(Mg + Fe)< 0.4, and in the narrow temperature interval of 200°C around 2000°C, while the stability of non-cubic garnet with more iron-deficient compositions persists up to higher temperatures. These two garnets show fractional melting into iron-deficient garnet and iron-rich liquid, and the crystallization field of cubic garnet extends over Fe/(Mg + Fe)= 0.5. The assemblage silicate spinel and stishovite is a low-temperature phase, which also occurs in the iron-rich portion of the MgSiO3—FeSiO3 system. The sequence as given by the Fe/(Mg + Fe) value for the coexisting phases with the two garnets at 2000°C and 20 GPa is: silicate modified spinel aluminium-free garnets silicate spinel.Natural majorite in shock-metamorphosed chondrites is clarified to be produced at pressures above 20 GPa and temperatures around 2000°C. Similar shock events may cause the occurrence of non-cubic garnet in iron-deficient meteorites. Non-cubic garnet could be a stable phase in the Earth's mantle if a sufficiently low concentration of aluminium is present in the layer corresponding to the stable pressure range of non-cubic garnet. The chemical differentiation by melting in the deep mantle is also discussed on the basis of the present experimental results and the observed coexistence of majorite garnet with magnesiowüstite in chondrites. |
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