Stability relations of Mn–Fe–Al piemontite |
| |
| Authors: | MARY KESKINEN JG LIOU |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Geology &Geophysics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775; Department of Geology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 |
| |
| Abstract: | Abstract Comparison of the stability relations of Fe-piemontite, Pm17Ps17Cz66 (Ca2Al2Mn0.5 Fe0.5Si3O12(OH)), with similar experimentally determined results on Pm33Cz67 suggests that, at moderate fo2, addition of Fe to piemontite raises its thermal stability and slightly decreases its sensitivity to oxygen fugacity. Reversal study of the reaction: Fe-piemontite + quartz = garnet (Gr33Sp27And40) + anorthite + fluid at Pfluid= 2 kbar in cold-seal apparatus using solid oxygen buffers was completed. The data indicated breakdown of Pm17Ps17Cz66 at 645°± 10° C along the Cu2O–CuO buffer, 477°± 10° C along the Cu–Cu2O buffer, and 365°± 10° C for the hematite-magnetite buffer. Mn-free clinozoisite and epidote have been shown to be stable to much higher temperatures than piemontite at moderate fo2 (< Cu–Cu2O). At very high fo2, however, the presence of Mn+3 in a distorted octahedral site may permit persistence of piemontite to higher temperatures than Mn-poor epidote minerals. The compositional range of natural Fe–Mn–Al piemontites supports these results. Cation partitioning from piemontite-bearing parageneses also indicates crystallization at high fo2, but application of the cited results should be made with caution. Synthetic phases were too fine-grained for optical or microprobe analysis, and reaction was often incomplete. The assumption that all Fe + Mn was contained in piemontite and garnet, respectively, in the low- and high-temperature assemblages is supported by the cell dimensions for these synthetic minerals, which are close to predicted values. The reaction is pseudo-univariant, as solid solution in garnet and piemontite would be fo2-dependent in a more complex chemical system. Although bulk rock and fluid compositions may also have a marked effect on the stability of natural epidote–piemontite, fo2 is the major control on Fe : Mn : Al in epidote minerals. |
| |
| Keywords: | Key-words: epidote minerals experimental petrology oxygen fugacity piemontite |
|
|
