A new high-pressure form of Mg2SiO4 highlighting diffusionless phase transitions of olivine

Ultra-low-velocity anomaly inside the Pacific Slab near the 410-km discontinuity

The upper boundary of the mantle transition zone, known as the "410-km discontinuity", is attributed to the phase transformation of the mineral olivine (α) to wadsleyite (β olivine). Here we present observations of triplicated P-waves from dense seismic arrays that constrain the structure of the subducting Pacific slab near the 410-km discontinuity beneath the northern Sea of Japan. Our analysis of P-wave travel times and waveforms at periods as short as 2 s indicates the presence of an ultra-low-velocity layer within the cold slab, with a P-wave velocity that is at least ≈20% lower than in the ambient mantle and an apparent thickness of ≈20 km along the wave path. This ultra-low-velocity layer could contain unstable material (e.g., poirierite) with reduced grain size where diffusionless transformations are favored.

Ultrafast olivine-ringwoodite transformation during shock compression

Meteorites from interplanetary space often include high-pressure polymorphs of their constituent minerals, which provide records of past hypervelocity collisions. These collisions were expected to occur between kilometre-sized asteroids, generating transient high-pressure states lasting for several seconds to facilitate mineral transformations across the relevant phase boundaries. However, their mechanisms in such a short timescale were never experimentally evaluated and remained speculative. Here, we show a nanosecond transformation mechanism yielding ringwoodite, which is the most typical high-pressure mineral in meteorites. An olivine crystal was shock-compressed by a focused high-power laser pulse, and the transformation was time-resolved by femtosecond diffractometry using an X-ray free electron laser. Our results show the formation of ringwoodite through a faster, diffusionless process, suggesting that ringwoodite can form from collisions between much smaller bodies, such as metre to submetre-sized asteroids, at common relative velocities. Even nominally unshocked meteorites could therefore contain signatures of high-pressure states from past collisions.

Meteorites from space often include denser polymorphs of their minerals, providing records of past hypervelocity collisions. An olivine mineral crystal was shock-compressed by a high-power laser, and its transformation into denser ringwoodite was time-resolved using an X-ray free electron laser.

Using Multigrain Crystallography to Explore the Microstructural Evolution of the α-Olivine to γ-Ringwoodite Transformation and ε-Mg2SiO4 at High Pressure and Temperature

The introduction of multigrain crystallography (MGC) applied in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell (LH-DAC) using synchrotron X-rays has provided a new path to investigate the microstructural evolution of materials at extreme conditions, allowing for simultaneous investigations of phase identification, strain state determination, and orientation relations across phase transitions in a single experiment. Here, we applied this method to a sample of San Carlos olivine beginning at ambient conditions and through the α-olivine → γ-ringwoodite phase transition. At ambient temperatures, by measuring the evolution of individual Bragg reflections, olivine shows profuse angular streaking consistent with the onset of yielding at a measured stress of ~1.5 GPa, considerably lower than previously reported, which may have implications for mantle evolution. Furthermore, γ-ringwoodite phase was found to nucleate as micron to sub-micron grains imbedded with small amounts of a secondary phase at 15 GPa and 1000 °C. Using MGC, we were able to extract and refine individual crystallites of the secondary unknown phase where it was found to have a structure consistent with the ε-phase previously described in chondritic meteorites.

Cation Disorder Caused by Olivine-Ringwoodite Phase Transition Mechanism, Possible Explanation for Blue Olivine Inclusion in a Diamond

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, as well as visual observations, in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) using soft metal gaskets or slightly reducing gas environment, have revealed that the olivine-ringwoodite transition in olivines of several compositions take place in two steps: step 1: displacive restacking of the oxygen layers, followed by step 2: diffusive reordering of the cations. The initiation of the phase transition was observed at temperatures as low as 200 °C below the reported temperature for the phase transition under hydrostatic conditions. These observations, especially residual disordered cations, have important implications for deep-focus earthquakes, the ability of ringwoodite to host surprising amounts of water, and possibly the observation of a blue olivine inclusion in a natural diamond from Brazil and in a pallasitic meteorite from Russia.

A Metastable Fo-III Wedge in Cold Slabs Subducted to the Lower Part of the Mantle Transition Zone: A Hypothesis Based on First-Principles Simulations

The metastable olivine (Ol) wedge hypothesis assumes that Ol may exist as a metastable phase at the P conditions of the mantle transition zone (MTZ) and even deeper regions due to inhibition of the phase transitions from Ol to wadsleyite and ringwoodite caused by low T in the cold subducting slabs. It is commonly invoked to account for the stagnation of the descending slabs, deep focus earthquakes and other geophysical observations. In the last few years, several new structures with the forsterite (Fo) composition, namely Fo-II, Fo-III and Fo-IV, were either experimentally observed or theoretically predicted at very low T conditions. They may have important impacts on the metastable Ol wedge hypothesis. By performing first-principles calculations, we have systematically examined their crystallographic characteristics, elastic properties and dynamic stabilities from 0 to 100 GPa, and identified the Fo-III phase as the most likely metastable phase to occur in the cold slabs subducted to the depths equivalent to the lower part of the MTZ (below the ~600 km depth) and even the lower mantle. As disclosed by our theoretical simulations, the Fo-III phase is a post-spinel phase (space group Cmc21), has all cations in sixfold coordination at P < ~60 GPa, and shows dynamic stability for the entire P range from 0 to 100 GPa. Further, our static enthalpy calculations have suggested that the Fo-III phase may directly form from the Fo material at ~22 GPa (0 K), and our high-T phase relation calculations have located the Fo/Fo-III phase boundary at ~23.75 GPa (room T) with an averaged Clapeyron slope of ~−1.1 MPa/K for the T interval from 300 to 1800 K. All these calculated phase transition pressures are likely overestimated by ~3 GPa because of the GGA method used in this study. The discrepancy between our predicted phase transition P and the experimental observation (~58 GPa at 300 K) can be explained by slow reaction rate and short experimental durations. Taking into account the P-T conditions in the cold downgoing slabs, we therefore propose that the Fo-III phase, rather than the Ol, highly possibly occurs as the metastable phase in the cold slabs subducted to the P conditions of the lower part of the MTZ (below the ~600 km depth) and even the lower mantle. In addition, our calculation has showed that the Fo-III phase has higher bulk seismic velocity, and thus may make important contributions to the high seismic speeds observed in the cold slabs stagnated near the upper mantle-lower mantle boundary. Future seismic studies may discriminate the effects of the Fo-III phase and the low T. Surprisingly, the Fo-III phase will speed up, rather than slow down, the subducting process of the cold slabs, if it metastably forms from the Ol. In general, the Fo-III phase has a higher density than the warm MTZ, but has a lower density than the lower mantle, as suggested by our calculations.

Si-Disordering in MgAl2O4-Spinel under High P-T Conditions, with Implications for Si-Mg Disorder in Mg2SiO4-Ringwoodite

A series of Si-bearing MgAl2O4-spinels were synthesized at 1500–1650 °C and 3–6 GPa. These spinels had SiO2 contents of up to ~1.03 wt % and showed a substitution mechanism of Si4+ + Mg2+ = 2Al3+. Unpolarized Raman spectra were collected from polished single grains, and displayed a set of well-defined Raman peaks at ~610, 823, 856 and 968 cm−1 that had not been observed before. Aided by the Raman features of natural Si-free MgAl2O4-spinel, synthetic Si-free MgAl2O4-spinel, natural low quartz, synthetic coesite, synthetic stishovite and synthetic forsterite, we infer that these Raman peaks should belong to the SiO4 groups. The relations between the Raman intensities and SiO2 contents of the Si-bearing MgAl2O4-spinels suggest that under some P-T conditions, some Si must adopt the M-site. Unlike the SiO4 groups with very intense Raman signals, the SiO6 groups are largely Raman-inactive. We further found that the Si cations primarily appear on the T-site at P-T conditions ≤~3–4 GPa and 1500 °C, but attain a random distribution between the T-site and M-site at P-T conditions ≥~5–6 GPa and 1630–1650 °C. This Si-disordering process observed for the Si-bearing MgAl2O4-spinels suggests that similar Si-disordering might happen to the (Mg,Fe)2SiO4-spinels (ringwoodite), the major phase in the lower part of the mantle transition zone of the Earth and the benchmark mineral for the very strong shock stage experienced by extraterrestrial materials. The likely consequences have been explored.