High-pressure behavior of space group P2/n omphacite

Abstract

A single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) study, using a diamond-anvil cell at high pressure and room temperature, was performed on a crystal from a natural space group P2/n omphacite sample with composition very close to Jd 55 Di 45 and with a high degree of order in cation distribution. Unit-cell parameters were determined at 13 different pressures up to about 7.5 GPa. A third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state (BM3-EoS) fitted to the P-V data yielded V 0 = 421.43(4) Å 3 , K T0 = 122(1) GPa, and K′ = 5.1(3). The K T0 value for this sample lies between the data obtained for the two end-members jadeite and diopside, and describes a slight positive curvature trend. During the same experiment, intensity data were collected and crystal structures were refined at 5 pressures up to 7.3 GPa. Both M1 and M2 polyhedra volumes showed a slight but significant change in slope at about 4 GPa. This behavior can likely be explained in terms of tilt angle variation of TA and TB tetrahedral, which also showed a change in slope with pressure, rather than in terms of bond length compression anomaly.