Solid solution and cation ordering limits in high-temperature sodic pyroxenes from the Nybö eclogite pod, Norway

Abstract

AbstractA range of sodic pyroxenes (Jd78Ac2Aug20Jd24Ac9Aug67) from the Nybö eclogite pod, Norway, have been examined by electron-microprobe analysis and by transmission electron microscopy.. Five different microprobes give generally compatible results and new analyses completely fill the natural composition gap in jadeite-rich omphacites with ∼ 3–12% acmite, confirming complete miscibility at high temperatures (⩾ 700 °C). Crystals with omphacite compositions around jadeite: augite = 1:1 contain antiphase domains resulting from the C2/c → P2/n cation ordering transformation. Exsolution microstructures were not observed, from which it is concluded that there are no two-phase regions separating the P2/n and C2/c stability fields at high temperatures (∼ 620–750 °C) and that cooling was too rapid for exsolution to occur in the jadeite/omphacite and omphacite/augite low-temperature solvi. Crystals whose compositions depart significantly from Jd:Aug= 1:1 have weak, diffuse h + k = odd reflections in selected area electron diffraction patterns which are interpreted as being due to short-range ordering outside the true P2/n stability field. The short-range ordering and lack of exsolution are consistent with a previous suggestion that the order/disorder transformation in omphacite is second (or higher) order in character. The average antiphase domain sizes (up to ∼ 3500 Å) are larger than any previously recorded in omphacites and are consistent with available petrological evidence for a long period of annealing at high temperatures before tectonic uplift and cooling.