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Feiite: Synthesis, stability, and implications for its formation conditions in nature

  • Kelsey Prissel ORCID logo , Yingwei Fei ORCID logo and Timothy A. Strobel
Published/Copyright: July 10, 2023
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 108 Issue 7

Abstract

Feiite (Fe3TiO5) is a high-pressure Fe-Ti oxide mineral recently discovered in martian meteorite Shergotty. Feiite is isostructural with Fe4O5, a high-pressure iron oxide stable at pressures >10 GPa. The stability of feiite has yet to be studied, as it has not previously been synthesized in the laboratory. To determine the minimum pressure at which feiite can be synthesized, we have conducted multi-anvil experiments at 1200 °C and at pressures ranging from 7 to 12 GPa. Major element compositions and XRD patterns indicate that we successfully synthesized feiite with an orthorhombic unit cell (Cmcm structure) in experiments conducted at pressures 8 GPa or greater. Relative to A2B2O5 phases with similar structure, feiite can be synthesized at lower pressures. The coexistence of feiite and liuite (FeTiO3-perovskite) in Shergotty indicates that the upper pressure limit of feiite stability is above 15 GPa. To investigate the effect of oxygen fugacity on the composition and stability of feiite, we conducted an additional series of experiments at 1200 °C and 10 GPa pressure in which we varied the Fe3+/Fetotal ratio of the experimental starting materials. In doing so, we identified a minimum Fe3+ content necessary to stabilize the feiite structure (Fe3+/Fetotal = 0.26 at 10 GPa and 1200 °C). The importance of Fe3+ for feiite stability suggests this phase would not form in lunar or HED meteorites, where iron-titanium oxides contain little to no ferric iron. Though our experimental results can only place a lower limit on the shock pressures experienced in Shergotty, the determined pressure stability indicates feiite could also be present in diamond-bearing terrestrial rocks sourced from the upper mantle or transition zone. Additionally, the presence of feiite would be an indicator of source Fe3+/ Fetotal.

Keywords: Feiite; iron titanium oxide; iron oxide; Shergotty; multi-anvil; high pressure

Acknowledgments and Funding

The authors thank Jill Yang, Emma Bullock, Samuel Dunning, and Yunxiu Li for laboratory and analytical support that contributed to the success of this project. Additionally, we thank Oliver Tschauner, Chi Ma, and an anonymous reviewer for providing helpful comments that improved this manuscript. This work was financially supported by NASA grant number 80NSSC20K0337 to Y.F. and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

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Received: 2022-06-07
Accepted: 2022-08-10
Published Online: 2023-07-10
Published in Print: 2023-07-26

© 2023 by Mineralogical Society of America

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2022-8633
Keywords for this article
Feiite; iron titanium oxide; iron oxide; Shergotty; multi-anvil; high pressure

Articles in the same Issue

  1. On the origin of fluorine-poor apatite in chondrite parent bodies
  2. Fluorine behavior during experimental muscovite dehydration melting and natural partitioning between micas: Implications for the petrogenesis of peraluminous leucogranites and pegmatites
  3. Telescoped boiling and cooling mechanisms triggered hydrothermal stibnite precipitation: Insights from the world’s largest antimony deposit in Xikuangshan China
  4. MSA Distinguished Lecturer Series Correlations between cathodoluminescence intensity and aluminum concentration in low-temperature hydrothermal quartz
  5. Behavior of hydrogen defect and framework of Fe-bearing wadsleyite and ringwoodite at high temperature and high pressure
  6. What is mineral informatics?
  7. Metal source and hydrothermal evolution of the Jiaoxi quartz vein-type tungsten deposit (Tibet): Insights from textural and compositional variations of wolframite and scheelite
  8. Geochemical processes and mechanisms for cesium enrichment in a hot-spring system
  9. Identifying xenocrystic tourmaline in Himalayan leucogranites
  10. Contrasting alteration textures and geochemistry of allanite from uranium-fertile and barren granites: Insights into granite-related U and ion-adsorption REE mineralization
  11. Feiite: Synthesis, stability, and implications for its formation conditions in nature
  12. Thermal equation of state of Fe3O4 magnetite up to 16 GPa and 1100 K
  13. UHP eclogite from western Dabie records evidence of polycyclic burial during continental subduction
  14. CO2 quantification in silicate glasses using μ-ATR FTIR spectroscopy
  15. Local structure determination of Zn-smectite
  16. A new UHP unit in the Western Alps: First occurrence of coesite from the Monviso Massif (Italy)
  17. Mineral evolution and mineral niches of ammonium sulfates: The case of Pastora mine, Aliseda, Spain
  18. Discrete late Jurassic Sn mineralizing events in the Xianghualing Ore District, South China: Constraints from cassiterite and garnet U-Pb geochronology
  19. Ryabchikovite, CuMg(Si2O6), a new pyroxene group mineral, and some genetic features of natural anhydrous copper silicates
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