The new Ca(Fe,Al)2O4 phase with calcium ferrite-type structure, a likely carrier of Al in the transition zone and lower mantle

Abstract

Synchrotron-based high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments were conducted on a new CaFe1.2Al0.8O4 phase at ambient temperature and up to a maximum pressure of 61 GPa. Crystals of CaFe1.2Al0.8O4 were synthesized at 24 GPa and 1500 °C. This phase has orthorhombic unit cell parameters (a = 8.9785(1) Å, b = 2.9158(1) Å, c = 10.4253(6) Å, V = 286(3) Å3, Z = 8), crystallizes with a space group Pnma, and exhibits K0,T of 195(2) GPa. At pressures ∼50 GPa, unit cell volume of CaFe1.2Al0.8O4 drops by about 7% over a small pressure interval. By combining results from synchrotron-based high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction and electronic structure calculations, it is shown that these changes in the compression behaviour are associated with changes of the electronic state of iron in the octahedral site. Thus, CaFe1.2Al0.8O4 is stable under the conditions of the transition zone and lower mantle and, therefore, may be considered as a likely Al carrier in the Earth's deep geospheres.