Abstract
The geophysical importance of the kinetics of the olivine → spinel phase transformation has stimulated considerable interest in the transformation mechanism. Both nucleation-and-growth and diffusionless martensitic models have been proposed. It has recently been suggested that a martensitic transformation (effected by partial dislocations associated with the (100) [001] slip system) would probably be accompanied by premonitory pressure-induced softening of the shear moduli c 55 and c 66. We have explored this possibility by measurement of the modulus c 55 for a single crystal of fayalite over a pressure range of 3 GPa (at 295 K) by ultrasonic interferometry. The variation of c 55 with pressure is described by a quadratic with the parameters (c 55)0=46.90±0.04 GPa, (∂c 55/∂P)0=1.715±0.004 and (∂2 c 55/∂P 2)0=−(0.136±0.003) GPa−1 where the subscript ‘0’ refers to atmospheric pressure and 295 K. The first pressure derivative is comparable with those for forsterite and ∼Fo90 olivine in spite of the much greater proximity of fayalite to the olivine⇌spinel phase boundary. The absence of pronounced pressure-induced shear mode softening in this study, along with similar results from a recent ultrasonic study of polycrystalline fayalite under conditions of simultaneous high pressure and high temperature, weakens the case for a martensitic olivine⇌spinel transformation mechanism.
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Webb, S.L., Jackson, I. & Takei, H. On the absence of shear mode softening in single-crystal fayalite Fe2SiO4 at high pressure and room temperature. Phys Chem Minerals 11, 167–171 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00387847
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00387847