Compressional pathways of α-cristobalite, structure of cristobalite X-I, and towards the understanding of seifertite formation

Autor(en)
Ana Cernok, Katharina Marquardt, Razvan Caracas, Elena Bykova, Gerlinde Habler, Hanns-Peter Liermann, Michael Hanfland, Mohamed Mezouar, Ema Bobocioiu, Leonid Dubrovinsky
Abstrakt

In various shocked meteorites, low-pressure silica polymorph α-cristobalite is commonly found in close spatial relation with the densest known SiO

2 polymorph seifertite, which is stable above ∼480 GPa. We demonstrate that under hydrostatic pressure α-cristobalite remains untransformed up to at least 15 GPa. In quasi-hydrostatic experiments, above 11 GPa cristobalite X-I forms-A monoclinic polymorph built out of silicon octahedra; the phase is not quenchable and back-transforms to α-cristobalite on decompression. There are no other known silica polymorphs, which transform to an octahedra-based structure at such low pressures upon compression at room temperature. Further compression in non-hydrostatic conditions of cristobalite X-I eventually leads to the formation of quenchable seifertite-like phase. Our results demonstrate that the presence of α-cristobalite in shocked meteorites or rocks does not exclude that materials experienced high pressure, nor is the presence of seifertite necessarily indicative of extremely high peak shock pressures.

Organisation(en)
Department für Lithosphärenforschung
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität Bayreuth, Université Claude-Bernard-Lyon-I, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF
Journal
Nature Communications
Band
8
Anzahl der Seiten
10
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15647
Publikationsdatum
06-2017
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105116 Mineralogie, 105113 Kristallographie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Allgemeine Physik und Astronomie, Allgemeine Chemie, Allgemeine Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/12901055-9f8d-42f5-925a-5c2a05fc820d