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Crystal structure of Guinier-Preston zones in orthopyroxene: Z-contrast imaging and ab inito study

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Published/Copyright: October 14, 2014
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 99 Issue 10

Abstract

Nano-precipitates of Guinier-Preston zones (or G.P. zones) occur in slowly cooled orthopyroxenes (OPX). Due to their nanometer sizes and intergrowth with host OPX, both X-ray diffraction and highresolution TEM imaging cannot provide a consistent structure model for the G.P. zone precipitates. Combining Z-contrast imaging and density functional theory (DFT) methods, a correct crystal structure for the G.P. zone precipitates can be obtained, because Z-contrast imaging can reveal positions and occupancies of atoms directly. The crystal structure for the G.P. zone has P21/c symmetry with 4 types of tetrahedral chains (OA1, OA2, OB, OC). The structure can be considered as periodic stacking of half unit cells of enstatite sub-layers and of diopside sub-layers in a twinning-like relationship along a-axis. The G.P. zones that precipitate out from their host Ca-bearing OPX at low temperature are metastable with respect to end-members of enstatite and diopside.

Keywords: Orthopyroxene; diopside; G.P. zone; nanomineral; DFT; Z-contrast imaging; orderdisorder; enstatite
Received: 2014-1-23
Accepted: 2014-4-24
Published Online: 2014-10-14
Published in Print: 2014-10-1

© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2014-4898
Keywords for this article
Orthopyroxene; diopside; G.P. zone; nanomineral; DFT; Z-contrast imaging; orderdisorder; enstatite

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  2. Highlights and Breakthroughs. Theoretical and applied implications of the structural order of irradiated vermiculite
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs. An examination of the Ti-in-quartz thermobarometer in rocks that contain dynamically recrystallized quartz: Re-equilibration of [Ti] during recrystallization
  4. The Second Conference on the Lunar Highlands Crust and New Directions. Visible-infrared spectral properties of iron-bearing aluminate spinel under lunar-like redox conditions
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  6. The Second Conference on the Lunar Highlands Crust and New Directions. Spinel-rich lithologies in the lunar highland crust: Linking lunar samples with crystallization experiments and remote sensing
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