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Experimental investigation of the kinetics of the spinel-to-garnet transformation in peridotite: A preliminary study

  • Maiko Nagayoshi , Tomoaki Kubo EMAIL logo and Takumi Kato
Published/Copyright: September 1, 2016
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 101 Issue 9

Abstract

To study the kinetics of the spinel-to-garnet transformation in peridotite, we conducted reaction experiments in the garnet peridotite stability field (3.2 GPa, 1020–1220 °C, for 0.6–30 h) using a single spinel crystal embedded in monomineralic orthopyroxene powder or in a mixture of powdered orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene. The growth textures observed in the reaction rim between the spinel crystal and the polycrystalline pyroxenes show that the reaction rim grew in both the spinel and pyroxenes directions, suggesting mobility of both SiO2 and R2O3 components (where R is a trivalent cation). Olivine grains formed only in the presence of monomineralic orthopyroxene and were present in some domains without forming reaction rims. Based on a diffusion-controlled growth model, the growth kinetics of the garnet reaction rim can be described by [x(t)]2 = k0 exp(–H*/RT)t, where x(t) is the rim width at time t, R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temperature, and H* is the activation enthalpy of reaction; k0 and H* are, respectively, k0 = 10−19.8 ± 4.9 m2/s and H* = 171 ± 58 kJ/mol. The development of a garnet reaction rim around a spinel core has been observed in alpine-type peridotitic rocks and mantle xenoliths. The reaction rims experimentally produced in this study are characteristic of corona textures observed in natural rocks, and the experimentally measured growth rate of the rims places important constraints on dynamic transformation processes involving spinel and garnet in peridotite. However, to reconstruct the P-T-t history of the corona texture based on these elementary processes, additional detailed studies on the textural evolution and quantitative kinetics of the garnetrim growth stage are required.

Keywords: Spinel; garnet; peridotite; reaction rim growth; kinetics; experimental petrology; UHP metamorphism

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Obata, T. Ikeda, M. Nishi, A. Toramaru, A. Shimojuku, N. Doi, and S. Uehara for valuable discussions and technical assistance, and K. Shimada for help with the SEM observations. We acknowledge J. Ganguly and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive review. We are also grateful to A. Perchuk, M. Obata, Y. Liang, and R. Abart for their improvements of early versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Advanced Scientist Development Program of Kyushu University to M.N., and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Nos. 23654190 and 25247089 to T. Kubo. In situ X-ray diffraction experiments were conducted at PFAR-NE7 of the Photon Factory (project no. 2010G639).

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Received: 2015-10-8
Accepted: 2016-4-14
Published Online: 2016-9-1
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2016-5586
Keywords for this article
Spinel; garnet; peridotite; reaction rim growth; kinetics; experimental petrology; UHP metamorphism

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Styles of aqueous alteration on Mars
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Study on nanophase iron oxyhydroxides in freshwater ferromanganese nodules from Green Bay, Lake Michigan
  5. Review
  6. Redox variations in the inner solar system with new constraints from vanadium XANES in spinels
  7. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  8. From bone to fossil: A review of the diagenesis of bioapatite
  9. Special Collection: Olivine
  10. Nickel–cobalt contents of olivine record origins of mantle peridotite and related rocks
  11. Special Collection: Rates And Depths Of Magma Ascent On Earth
  12. Experimental simulation of bubble nucleation and magma ascent in basaltic systems: Implications for Stromboli volcano
  13. Special Collection: Nanominerals and Mineral Nanoparticles
  14. Study on nanophase iron oxyhydroxides in freshwater ferromanganese nodules from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, with implications for the adsorption of As and heavy metals
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