Can quasicrystals survive in planetary collisions?

Vincenzo Stagno,Sota Takagi,Atsushi Kyono,Luca Bindi

doi:10.1186/s40645-021-00421-y

Abstract

We investigated the compressional behavior of i-AlCuFe quasicrystal using diamond anvil cell under quasi-hydrostatic conditions by in situ angle-dispersive X-ray powder diffraction measurements (in both compression and decompression) up to 76 GPa at ambient temperature using neon as pressure medium. These data were compared with those collected up to 104 GPa using KCl as pressure medium available in literature. In general, both sets of data indicate that individual d-spacing shows a continuous decrease with pressure with no drastic changes associated to structural phase transformations or amorphization. The d/d0, where d0 is the d-spacing at ambient pressure, showed a general isotropic compression behavior. The zero-pressure bulk modulus and its pressure derivative were calculated fitting the volume data to both the Murnaghan- and Birch-Murnaghan equation of state models. Results from this study extend our knowledge on the stability of icosahedrite at very high pressure and reinforce the evidence that natural quasicrystals formed during a shock event in asteroidal collisions and survived for eons in the history of the Solar System.

Highlights

IntroductionTextural and chemical studies of shocked veins and mineral assemblages observed in meteorites over the last decades have been widely interpreted in light of dynamic (e.g., shock experiments) and static (e.g., multi anvil and diamond anvil cell experiments) compression investigations of diverse minerals and their stability at high (H) pressure (P) and temperature (T) (Tomioka and Miyahara 2017)
Textural and chemical studies of shocked veins and mineral assemblages observed in meteorites over the last decades have been widely interpreted in light of dynamic and static compression investigations of diverse minerals and their stability at high (H) pressure (P) and temperature (T) (Tomioka and Miyahara 2017)
Among the several studies reporting the observation of high-pressure minerals in meteorites (e.g., El Goresy et al 2000, 2001a, b, 2008, 2010; Tomioka and Miyahara 2017; Bindi et al 2017, 2020; Tomioka et al 2021), the discovery of metallic alloys has been of particular interest as these provide (1) direct information on differently O2-depriveted portions of the Solar Nebula where alloys condensated, (2) a snapshot of the cooling history of the pristine chondritic material, and (3) a valid comparative model of core formation and chemical composition (McDonough and Sun 1995)

Summary

Introduction

Textural and chemical studies of shocked veins and mineral assemblages observed in meteorites over the last decades have been widely interpreted in light of dynamic (e.g., shock experiments) and static (e.g., multi anvil and diamond anvil cell experiments) compression investigations of diverse minerals and their stability at high (H) pressure (P) and temperature (T) (Tomioka and Miyahara 2017). El Goresy and Chao (1976, 1977) reported the discovery of Fe-Ni-Cr particles in the basement rocks of Ries crater (Germany) that were attributed to a condensation process after vaporization of the impacting (carbonaceous) stony meteorite. This finding of metal particles was anticipated by the description of Co-, Cu-, and Ni-rich spheroids within impactites from the Barringer Meteorite Crater in Arizona by Kelly et al (1974) explained on the basis of extensive chemical

Methods

Results

Conclusion