High pressure Ca2SiO4, the silicate K2NiF4-isotype with crystalchemical and geophysical implications

Abstract

The first silicate possessing a K2NiF4-type structure (Ca2SiO4) has been synthesized at loading pressures between 220 and 260 kbar and a temperature of about 1000° C in a diamond-anvil press coupled with a YAG laser heater. The lattice parameters for Ca2SiO4 (K2NiF4-type) area=3.564±0.002 andc=11.66±0.01 A at room temperature and 1 bar pressure, and the molar volume is 44.57±0.05 cm3. The lattice parameter for the non-quenchable high-pressure perovskite modification of CaSiO3 is estimated to be 3.56±0.03 A at STP conditions. To date, A2BX4 compounds possessing the K2NiF4-type structure arein all cases less dense than their corresponding mixtures of ABX3 and AX compounds possessing, respectively, the perovskite (or related structures) and rocksalt structures. Hence the K2NiF4 structure is unstable relative to the mixture perovskite plus rocksalt at high pressures. For example, in a preliminary experimental study Ca2GeO4 in the K2NiF4-type structure has been found to transform to an as-yet-undetermined phase or assemblage at pressures between 200 and 250 kbar and at about 1000° C. It is concluded that a similar phase transformation might also occur in Ca2SiO4 (K2NiF4 type) but that the K2NiF4-type structure would not be adopted by Mg2SiO4 in the earth's mantle.