DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: High-Pressure $$γ$$-CaMgSi2O6: Does Penta-Coordinated Silicon Exist in the Earth's Mantle?

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters

We report in situ X-ray diffraction experiments with natural Fe- and Al- bearing diopside single crystals and density functional theory (DFT) calculations on diopside end-member composition indicate the existence of a new high-pressure γ-diopside polymorph with rare penta-coordinated silicon. On compression $$α$$-diopside transforms to the $$γ$$-phase at ~50 GPa, which in turn, on decompression is observed to convert to the known $$β$$-phase below 47 GPa. The new $$γ$$-diopside polymorph constitutes another recent example of penta-coordinated silicon (VSi) in overcompressed metastable crystalline silicates, suggesting that VSi may exist in the transition zone and the uppermost lower mantle in appreciable quantities, not only in silicate glass and melts but also in crystalline phases contained in the coldest parts of subducted stagnant slabs. VSi may have significant influences on buoyancy, wave velocity anomalies, deformation mechanisms, chemical reactivity of silicate rocks, and seismicity within the slab.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
1344942; 1440005; 1541516; EAR-1128799; FG02-94ER14466; EAR-1661511; AC02-06CH11357; DMR TG-110093
OSTI ID:
1423341
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 22; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (76)

CaSiO 3 perovskite at lower mantle pressures journal January 2005
Survival of pyropic garnet in subducting plates journal November 2008
The crystal structure of diopside at pressure to 10 GPa journal January 2008
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
Spatially dependent seismic anisotropy in the Tonga subduction zone: A possible contributor to the complexity of deep earthquakes journal April 2006
Density profiles of oceanic slabs and surrounding mantle: Integrated thermodynamic and thermal modeling, and implications for the fate of slabs at the 660km discontinuity journal February 2009
Molecular dynamics simulations of seismic discontinuities and phase transitions of MgSiO 3 from 4 to 6-coordinated silicate via a novel 5-coordinated phase journal May 2001
Brittle to Ductile Transition in Densified Silica Glass journal May 2014
Metastable mantle phase transformations and deep earthquakes in subducting oceanic lithosphere journal May 1996
Exsolution kinetics of majoritic garnet from clinopyroxene in subducting oceanic crust journal November 2011
Formation of metastable cubic-perovskite in high-pressure phase transformation of Ca(Mg, Fe, Al)Si2O6 journal February 2005
The influence of olivine metastability on the dynamics of subduction journal January 1999
Stagnation of subducting slabs in the transition zone due to slow diffusion in majoritic garnet journal March 2013
Polymorphic phase transition mechanism of compressed coesite journal March 2015
VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data journal October 2011
Thermoelastic Properties of M g S i O 3 -Perovskite: Insights on the Nature of the Earth’s Lower Mantle journal January 2004
CH5+: The Infrared Spectrum Observed journal April 1999
Single-crystal diffraction and Raman spectroscopy of hedenbergite up to 33 GPa journal April 2015
The compressibility and high pressure structure of diopside from first principles simulation journal March 2008
High-pressure phase transformation in CaMgSi 2 O 6 and implications for origin of ultra-deep diamond inclusions journal November 2000
Rheology of omphacite at high temperature and pressure and significance of its lattice preferred orientations journal June 2006
Phase Transformations and Differentiation in Subducted Lithosphere: Implications for Mantle Dynamics, Basalt Petrogenesis, and Crustal Evolution journal November 1982
Spectroscopic evidence for pressure-induced phase transitions in diopside journal July 2002
Isosymmetric pressure-induced bonding increase changes compression behavior of clinopyroxenes across jadeite-aegirine solid solution in subduction zones: ISOSYMMETRIC PHASE TRANSITION journal January 2017
Seismic anisotropy in the mantle transition zone beneath Fiji-Tonga: SEISMIC ANISOTROPY IN THE MANTLE TRANSITION ZONE journal July 2003
A closer look into close packing: pentacoordinated silicon in a high-pressure polymorph of danburite journal August 2017
β ‐diopside, a new ultrahigh‐pressure polymorph of CaMgSi 2 O 6 with six‐coordinated silicon journal December 2012
High pressure single-crystal micro X-ray diffraction analysis with GSE_ADA/RSV software journal August 2013
Calibration of the ruby pressure gauge to 800 kbar under quasi-hydrostatic conditions journal January 1986
Thermodynamic and elastic properties of pyrope at high pressure and high temperature by first-principles calculations: HIGH-PT ELASTICITY OF PYROPE journal September 2016
Metastability of enstatite in deep subducting lithosphere journal November 1994
High-pressure and high-temperature phase relations in diopside CaMgSi2O6 journal December 1997
Comparison of Phosphorus and Silicon:  Hypervalency, Stereochemistry, and Reactivity journal January 1996
Why cold slabs stagnate in the transition zone journal March 2015
Petrology, elasticity, and composition of the mantle transition zone journal January 1992
Structural characterization of pentacoordinate silicon in a calcium silicate journal December 1996
Buoyancy, bending, and seismic visibility in deep slab stagnation journal November 2010
Metastable transformations of eclogite to garnetite in subducting oceanic crust journal January 2009
Dynamic compression of diopside and salite to 200 GPa journal July 1983
Subducted slabs stagnant above, penetrating through, and trapped below the 660 km discontinuity: SUBDUCTED SLABS IN THE TRANSITION ZONE journal November 2013
Phase transitions in orthopyroxene (En90) to 49 GPa from single-crystal X-ray diffraction journal July 2015
Nomenclature of Pyroxenes journal September 1988
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
A short history of SHELX journal December 2007
Single-crystal elasticity of diopside to 14GPa by Brillouin scattering journal March 2014
The effect of pressure on the elastic properties and seismic anisotropy of diopside and jadeite from atomic scale simulation journal February 2012
Comparison of the projector augmented-wave, pseudopotential, and linearized augmented-plane-wave formalisms for density-functional calculations of solids journal January 1997
The effect of metastable pyroxene on the slab dynamics: metastable pyroxene and slab dynamics journal December 2014
Compressional behavior of omphacite to 47 GPa journal July 2016
First-principles calculations of equilibrium fractionation of O and Si isotopes in quartz, albite, anorthite, and zircon journal October 2016
Comparative study of the hypercoordinate carbonium ions and their boron analogs: A challenge for spectroscopists journal November 2011
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Effects of slab mineralogy on subduction rates journal January 1999
The influence of olivine metastability on deep subduction of oceanic lithosphere journal June 2000
Theoretical study of a five-coordinated silica polymorph journal September 1997
Stability of clinopyroxene at pressure-temperature conditions of the transition region journal October 1994
Ab initio structure of MgSiO 3 ilmenite at high pressure journal February 2000
Shock-induced temperatures of CaMgSi 2 O 6 journal January 1990
The system enstatite-wollastonite at high pressures and temperatures, with emphasis on diopside journal July 1979
Structural change in molten basalt at deep mantle conditions journal November 2013
High-pressure phase transformations in a natural crystalline diopside and a synthetic CaMgSi2O6 glass journal April 1994
The role of solid–solid phase transitions in mantle convection journal January 2017
First principles molecular dynamics simulations of diopside (CaMgSi2O6) liquid to high pressure journal July 2011
High-pressure transitions of diopside and wollastonite: phase equilibria and thermochemistry of CaMgSi2O6, CaSiO3 and CaSi2O5–CaTiSiO5 system journal June 2004
Stagnant Slab: A Review journal May 2009
Kinetics of the olivine-spinel transformation in subducting lithosphere: experimental constraints and implications for deep slab processes journal October 1994
A new high-pressure phase transition in clinoferrosilite: In situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction study journal March 2017
The Upper Mantle and Transition Zone journal June 2008
Pentacoordinate silicon intermediate states during silicate condensation and decondensation. Crystallographic support journal October 1984
Slow Si–Al interdiffusion in garnet and stagnation of subducting slabs journal January 2013
High-resolution X-ray luminescence extension imaging journal February 2021
Electronic structure of AlFeN films exhibiting crystallographic orientation change from c- to a-axis with Fe concentrations and annealing effect journal February 2020
Lead palladium titanate: A room temperature nanoscale multiferroic thin film journal February 2020
A closer look into close packing: pentacoordinated silicon in a high-pressure polymorph of danburite text January 2017
Nomenclature of pyroxenes journal January 1988
Nomenclature of pyroxenes. journal January 1989

Cited By (8)

Penta- and hexa-coordinated beryllium and phosphorus in high-pressure modifications of CaBe2P2O8 journal June 2019
High pressure phase transitions of paracelsian BaAl2Si2O8 journal September 2019
Pentacoordinated silicon in the high-pressure modification of datolite, CaBSiO 4 (OH) journal January 2018
Metastable silica high pressure polymorphs as structural proxies of deep Earth Silicate Melts text January 2018
Penta- and hexa-coordinated beryllium and phosphorus in high-pressure modifications of $CaBe_{2}P_{2}O_{8}$ text January 2019
High pressure phase transitions of paracelsian $BaAl_{2}Si_{2}O_{8}$ text January 2019
Metastable silica high pressure polymorphs as structural proxies of deep Earth silicate melts journal November 2018
Penta- and hexa-coordinated beryllium and phosphorus in high-pressure modifications of $CaBe_{2}P_{2}O_{8}$ text January 2019