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Orientation of exsolution lamellae in mantle xenolith pyroxenes and implications for calculating exsolution pressures

  • Shan-Rong Zhao EMAIL logo , Ge-Ge Zhang , Hui Sun , Roger Mason and Xu He
Published/Copyright: October 2, 2017
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 102 Issue 10

Abstract

Exsolution lamellae in pyroxene occurring in mantle lherzolite xenoliths in Cenozoic basalts from the Mingxi area, Fujian Province, China, have been investigated by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) to determine epitaxial relationships between host and lamellae. Clinopyroxene (diopside) hosts developed two sets of lamellae: one of orthopyroxene (pigeonite-enstatite) lamellae and the other of clinopyroxene (augite) lamellae. Orthopyroxene (enstatite) hosts developed a single set of clinopyroxene (augite) lamellae. A zone crossing method has been used to determine Miller indices of lamellae, which appear as linear traces on thin sections tested by EBSD. In clinopyroxene hosts, the index of orthopyroxene lamellae is (100) and that of clinopyroxene lamellae is ~(401) at 22° to the c-axis. In orthopyroxene hosts, the index of clinopyroxene lamellae is (100). Published high-pressure crystallographic data for compositions approximating those of the lamellae and host are used to compare cell parameters of lamellae and hosts at different pressures. Exact phase boundary theory is applied to estimate the exsolution pressure, and the data uncertainty of composition, cell parameters and orientation of the lamellae have been analyzed. Uncertainties of composition and cell parameters give rise to only small uncertainties in the exsolution pressure, but that of the orientation of the lamellae generates large uncertainty. Independent high accuracy measurement of the angle between lamellae and c-axis by TEM or other techniques combined with exact phase boundary theory would give more reliable estimates of exsolution pressure.

Keywords: Exsolution; pyroxene; crystallographic orientation; mantle xenoliths; error-analysis; EBSD

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Xiang-Wen Liu for the discussion about the application of the exact phase boundary theory, to Xin-Rong Lei for the discussion about the date uncertainty analysis. We acknowledge financial support from National Nature Science Foundation of China (41372058). The EBSD was performed in State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences.

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Received: 2016-11-8
Accepted: 2017-6-27
Published Online: 2017-10-2
Published in Print: 2017-10-26

© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2017-6009
Keywords for this article
Exsolution; pyroxene; crystallographic orientation; mantle xenoliths; error-analysis; EBSD

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Making a fine-scale ruler for oxide inclusions
  3. Special Collection: Biomaterials—Mineralogy Meets Medicine
  4. Substitution of sulfate in apatite
  5. Actinides in Geology, Energy, and the Environment
  6. Thermodynamic characterization of synthetic autunite
  7. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  8. The crystal structure of turneaureite, Ca5(AsO4)3Cl, the arsenate analog of chlorapatite, and its relationships with the arsenate apatites johnbaumite and svabite
  9. Special Collection: From Magmas to Ore Deposits
  10. Cu-Mo partitioning between felsic melts and saline-aqueous fluids as a function of XNaCleq, fO2, and fS2
  11. Special Collection: Dynamics of Magmatic Processes
  12. Continuous mush disaggregation during the long-lasting Laki fissure eruption, Iceland
  14. A new hydrothermal moissanite cell apparatus for optical in-situ observations at high pressure and high temperature, with applications to bubble nucleation in silicate melts
  16. Experimental and thermodynamic investigations on the stability of Mg14Si5O24 anhydrous phase B with relevance to Mg2SiO4 forsterite, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite
  18. Model for the origin, ascent, and eruption of lunar picritic magmas
  20. Phase relations of Fe-Mg spinels including new high-pressure post-spinel phases and implications for natural samples
  22. A Raman calibration for the quantification of SO42− groups dissolved in silicate glasses: Application to natural melt inclusions
  24. The system fayalite-albite-anorthite and the syenite problem
  26. Kiglapait mineralogy V: Feldspars in a hot, dry magma
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  30. Spin state and electronic environment of iron in basaltic glass in the lower mantle
  32. A shallow origin of so-called ultrahigh-pressure chromitites, based on single-crystal X-ray structure analysis of the high-pressure Mg2Cr2O5 phase, with modified ludwigite-type structure
  34. Biologically mediated crystallization of buddingtonite in the Paleoproterozoic: Organic-igneous interactions from the Volyn pegmatite, Ukraine
  36. Mengxianminite (Ca2Sn2Mg3Al8[(BO3)(BeO4)O6]2) a new borate mineral from Xianghualing skarn, Hunan Province, China, with a highly unusual chemical combination (B + Be + Sn)
  37. Letter: Special Collection: Nanominerals and Mineral Nanoparticles
  38. Previously unknown mineral-nanomineral relationships with important environmental consequences: The case of chromium release from dissolving silicate minerals
  39. Letter: Special Collection: Nanominerals and Mineral Nanoparticles
  40. Protoenstatite: A new mineral in Oregon sunstones with “watermelon” colors
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