The high-pressure phase transformations of monticellite and implications for upper mantle mineralogy

Abstract

Abstract The phase assemblages of monticellite (CaMgSiO 4 ) were investigated in the pressure range 80–300 kbar at about 1000°C in a diamond-anvil cell with laser heating. Incorporating earlier work, the following phase transformations are found: where the percentages give the decreases in zero-pressure volume for the new assemblage. If merwinite is a stable mantle mineral phase, even in very small quantities (∼1 mole percent), the results imply that olivine might decrease substantially in amount in the lower part of the Earth's upper mantle. This study also suggests that the observed seismic discontinuities in the mantle should not be entirely attributed to high-pressure polymorphism or decompositions of individual mineral species, and that some discontinuities may result from chemical reactions between the individual phases.