Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:33:35.411Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Polymorphic transformations between olivine, wadsleyite and ringwoodite: mechanisms of intracrystalline nucleation and the role of elastic strain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Ljuba Kerschhofer ,
Catherine Dupas ,
Ming Liu ,
Thomas G. Sharp ,
William B. Durham  and
David C. Rubie
Ljuba Kerschhofer
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Catherine Dupas
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Ming Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Thomas G. Sharp
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
William B. Durham
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, PO Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
David C. Rubie
Affiliation:
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Kinetic models and rate equations for polymorphic reconstructive phase transformations in polycrystalline aggregates are usually based on the assumptions that (a) the product phase nucleates on grain boundaries in the reactant phase and (b) growth rates of the product phase remain constant with time at fixed P-T. Recent observations of experimentally-induced transformations between (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 olivine (α) and its high pressure polymorphs, wadsleyite (β) and ringwoodite (γ), demonstrate that both these assumptions can be invalid, thus complicating the extrapolation of experimental kinetic data. Incoherent grain boundary nucleation appears to have dominated in most previous experimental studies of the α–β–γ transformations because of the use of starting materials with small (<10–20 µm) grain sizes. In contrast, when large (0.6 mm) olivine single crystals are reacted, intracrystalline nucleation of both β and γ becomes the dominant mechanism, particularly when the P-T conditions significantly overstep the equilibrium boundary. At pressures of 18–20 GPa intracrystalline nucleation involves (i) the formation of stacking faults in the olivine, (ii) coherent nucleation of γ-lamellae on these faults and (iii) nucleation of β on γ. In other experiments, intracrystalline nucleation is also observed during the β-γ transformation. In this case coherent nucleation of γ appears to occur at the intersections of dislocations with (010) stacking faults in β, which suggests that the nucleation rate is stress dependent. Reaction rims of β/γ form at the margins of the olivine single crystals by grain boundary nucleation. Measurements of growth distance as a function of time indicate that the growth rate of these rims decreases towards zero as transformation progresses. The growth rate slows because of the decrease in the magnitude of the Gibbs free energy (stored elastic strain energy) that develops as a consequence of the large volume change of transformation. On a longer time scale, growth kinetics may be controlled by viscoelastic relaxation.

Keywords

phase transformationsolivinewadsleyiteringwooditesubduction zones
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 62 , Issue 5 , October 1998 , pp. 617 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Present address: Inst. f. Planetologie WWU Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany

*

Present address: Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA

References

Akaogi, M., Ito, E. and Navrotsky, A. (1989) Olivine-modified spinel–spinel transitions in the system Mg2SiO4–Fe2SiO4: Calorimetric measurements , thermodynamical calculation, and geophysical application. J. Geophys. Res., 94, 15671–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boland, J.N. and Liebermann, R.C. (1983) Mechanism of the olivine to spinel phase transformation in Ni2SiO4 . Geophys. Res. Lett., 10, 87–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boland, J.N. and Liu, L. (1983) Olivine to spinel transformation in Mg2SiO4 via faulted structures. Nature, 303, 233–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brearley, A.J. and Rubie, D.C. (1994) Transformation mechanisms of San Carlos olivine to (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 β-phase under subduction zone conditions. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 86, 45–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brearley, A.J. , Rubie, D.C. and Ito, E. (1992) Mechanisms of the transformations between the α, β and γ polymorphs of Mg2SiO4 at 15 GPa. Phys. Chem. Mineral., 18, 343–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnley, P.C. (1990) The effect of nonhydrostatic stress on the olivine-spinel transformation in Mg2GeO4. Thesis, Univ. California, Davies, 187 pp.Google Scholar
Burnley, P.C. (1995) The fate of olivine in subducting slabs: A reconnaissance study. Amer. Mineral., 80, 1293–1301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnley, P.C. and Green, H.W. II (1989) Stress dependence of the mechanism of the olivine-spinel transformation. Nature, 338, 753–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahn, J.W. (1956) The kinetics of grain boundary nucleated reactions. Acta Metall., 4, 449–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canil, D. (1994) Stability of clinopyroxene at pressure-temperature conditions of the transition region. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 86, 25–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, W.D. and Rosenfeld, J.L. (1981) Optical determination of topotactic aragonite-calcite growth kinetics: metamorphic implications. J. Geol., 89, 615–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christian, J.W. (1975) The Theory of Transformations in Metals and Alloys. I. Equilibrium and General Kinetic Theory. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 586pp.Google Scholar
Cleveland, J.J. and Bradt, R.C. (1978) Grain size/ microcracking relations for pseudobrookite oxides. J. Amer. Ceram. Soc., 61, 478–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daessler, R., Yuen, D.A., Karato, S. and Riedel, M.R. (1996) Two-dimensional thermo-kinetic model for the olivine-spinel phase transition in subducting slabs. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 94, 217–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, R.S., Chou, I.-M. and Bodnar, R.J. (1997) An occurrence of metastable cristobalite in highpressure garnet granulite. Science, 276, 91–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujino, K. and Irifune, T. (1992)TEM studies on the olivine to modified spinel transformation in Mg2SiO4. In High-Pressure Research: Application to Earth and Planetary Sciences(Syono, Y. and Manghnani, M.H., eds. ), Amer. Geophys. Union, Washington D. C., pp. 237–43.Google Scholar
Furnish, M.D. and Bassett, W.A. (1983) Investigation of the mechanism of the olivine-spinel transition in fayalite by synchrotron radiation. J. Geophys. Res., 88, 10333–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillet, P., Ingrin, J. and Chopin, C. (1984) Coesite in subducted continental crust: P-T history deduced from an elastic model. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 70, 426–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, H.W. and Houston, H. (1995) The mechanics of deep earthquakes. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 23, 169–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, H.W., Young, T.E., Walker, D. and Scholz, C.H. (1992) The effect of nonhydrostatic stress on the α→β and α→γ olivine phase transformations. In High Pressure Research: Applications to Earth and Planetary Sciences(Syono, Y. and Manghnani, M.H., eds.), Amer. Geophys. Union, Washington D. C., pp. 229–35.Google Scholar
Goto, K., Suzuki, Z. and Hamguchi, H. (1987) Stress distribution due to olivine-spinel phase transition in descending plate and deep focus earthquakes. J. Geophys. Res., 92, 13811–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guyot, F., Gwamnesia, G.D. and Liebermann R.C. (1991) An olivine to beta phase transformation mechanism in Mg2SiO4 . Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 89–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, B.R., Kirby, S.H. and Bohlen, S.R. (1992) Time and metamorphic petrology: calcite to aragonite experiments. Science, 258, 110–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamaya, N. and Akimoto, S. (1982) Experimental investigation of the mechanism of the olivine→spinel transformation: growth of single crystal spinel from single crystal olivine in Ni2SiO4. In High Pressure Research in Geophysics(Akimoto, S. and Manghnani, M.H., eds.), Center Acad. Pub., Tokyo, pp. 373–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazen, R.M., Downs, R.T., Finger, L.W. and Co, J. (1993) Crystal chemistry of ferromagnesian spinels: Evidence for Mg-Si disorder. Amer. Mineral., 78, 1320–3.Google Scholar
Horiuchi, H., Horioka, K. and Morimoto, N. (1980) Spinelloids: A systematics of spinel-related structures obtained under high-pressure conditions. J. Mineral. Soc. Japan, Special Issue, 2, 253–64.Google Scholar
Horiuchi, H., Akaogi, M. and Sawamoto, H. (1982) Crystal structure studies on spinel-related phases, spinelloids: implications to olivine-spinel phase transformation and systematics. In Advances in Earth and Planetary Sciences, 12, (Akimoto, S. and Manghnani, M.H., eds). High Pressure Research in Geophysics, pp. 391–403.Google Scholar
Hornstra, D. (1960) Dislocations, stacking faults and twins in the spinel structure. J. Phys. Chem. Solids, 15, 311–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, E. and Katsura, T. (1989) A temperature profile of the mantle transition zone. Geophys. Res. Lett., 16, 425–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, E. and Sato, H. (1991) Aseismicity in the lower mantle by superplasticity of the descending slab. Nature, 351, 140–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karato, S.-I. (1996) Phase transformations and rheological properties of mantle minerals. In Earth's Deep Interior(Crossley, D. and Soward, A.M., eds. ), pp. 223–72.Google Scholar
Katsura, T. and Ito, E. (1989) The system Mg2SiO4- Fe2SiO4 at high pressures and temperatures: precise determination of stabilities of olivine, modified spinel, and spinel. J. Geophys. Res., 94, 15663–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerschhofer, L., Sharp, T.G. and Rubie, D.C. (1996) Intracrystalline transformation of olivine to wadsleyite and ringwoodite under subduction zone conditions. Science, 274, 79–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, S.H., Stein, S., Okal, E.A. and Rubie, D.C. (1996) Metastable mantle phase transformations and deep earthquakes in subducting oceanic lithosphere. Rev. Geophys., 34, 261–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohlstedt, D.L., Goetze, C. and Durham, W.B. (1976) Experimental deformation of single crystal olivine with application to flow in the mantle. In The Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and Rocks(Strens, R.G.J., ed.), J. Wiley, New York, pp. 35–49.Google Scholar
Kubo, T., Ohtani, E., Kato, T., Shinmei, T. and Fujino, K. (1998a) Experimental investigation of the a-b transformation of San Carlos olivine single crystal. Phys. Chem. Mineral.(in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kubo, T., Ohtani, E., Kato, T., Shinmei, T. and Fujino, K. (1998b) Effects of water on the α–β transformation kinetics in San Carlos olivine. Science, 281, 85–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lacam, A., Madon, M. and Poirier, J.-P. (1980) Olivine glass and spinel formed in a laser heated, diamondanvil high pressure cell. Nature, 289, 155–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, M. and Yund, R.A. (1993) Transformation kinetics of polycrystalline aragonite to calcite: new experimental data, modelling and implications. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 114, 465–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, M. and Yund, R.A. (1995) The elastic strain energy associated with the olivine-spinel transformation and its implications. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 89, 177–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, M., Kerschhofer, L. and Rubie, D.C. (1998) The effect of strain energy on growth rates during the olivine-spinel transformation. J. Geophys. Res.(submitted).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madon, M. and Poirier, J.-P. (1983) Transmission electron microscope observation of α, β and γ (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 in shocked meteorites: planar defects and polymorphic transitions. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 33, 31–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madon, M., Guyot, F., Peyronneau, J. and Poirier, J.-P. (1989) Electron microscopy of high-pressure phases synthesized from natural olivine in diamond anvil cell. Phys. Chem. Mineral., 16, 320–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, I., Wang, Y., Guyot, F., Liebermann, R.C. and Doukhan, J.-C. (1997) Microstructures and iron partitioning in (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite - (Mg,Fe)O magnesiowüstite assemblages: an analytical transmission electron microscopy study. J. Geophys. Res., 102, 5265–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishiyama, Z. (1978) Martensitic Transformation (Fine, M.E., Meshii, M. and Wayman, C.M., eds. ), Material Science Series, Academic Press, New York, 467pp.Google Scholar
Poirier, J.-P. (1981) Martensitic olivine-spinel transformation and plasticity of the mantle transition zone. In Anelastic Properties and Related Processes in the Earth's Mantle,Geodynamic Series, Vol. 4, Amer. Geophys. Union, Washington D. C., pp. 113–7.Google Scholar
Price, G.D. (1983) The nature and significance of stacking faults in wadsleyite, natural β-(Mg,Fe)2SiO4 from the Peace River meteorite. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 33, 137–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, G.D., Putnis, A. and Smith, D.G.W. (1982) A spinel to b-phase transformation mechanism in (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 . Nature, 296, 729–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remsberg, A.R. and Liebermann, R.C. (1991) A study of the polymorphic transformation in Co2SiO4 . Phys. Chem. Mineral., 18, 161–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remsberg, A.R., Boland, J.N., Gasparik, T. and Liebermann, R.C. (1988) Mechanism of the olivine- spinel transformation in Co2SiO4 . Phys. Chem. Mineral., 15, 498–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedel, M.R. and Karato, S. (1996)Microstructural development during nucleat ion and growth. Geophys. J. Int., 125, 397–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedel, M.R. and Karato, S. (1997) Grain-size dependence in subducted lithosphere associated with the olivine-spinel transformation and its effect on rheology. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 148, 27–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. (1983) Reaction-enhanced ductility: the role of solid-solid univariant reactions in deformation of the crust and mantle. Tectonophysics, 95, 331–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. (1984) The olivine→spinel transformation and the rheology of subducting lithosphere. Nature, 308, 505–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. (1990) Mechanisms of reaction-enhanced deformability in minerals and rocks. In Deformation Processes in Minerals, Ceramics and Rocks(Barber, D.J. and Meredith, P.G., eds.), Unwin Hyman, London, pp. 262–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. (1993) Mechanisms and kinetics of reconstructive phase transformations in the Earth's mantle. In Short Courses Handbook on Experiments at High Pressure and Applications to the Earth's Mantle(ed. Luth, R.W.), Miner. Assoc. Canada, Vol. 21, Edmonton, pp. 247–303.Google Scholar
Rubie, D.C. and Brearley, A.J. (1990) Mechanism of the β-γ phase transformation of Mg2SiO4 at high temperature and pressure. Nature, 348, 628–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. and Brearley, A.J. (1994) Phase transitions between β and γ (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 in the Earth's mantle: mechanisms and rheological implications. Science, 264, 1445–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubie, D.C. and Champness, P.E. (1987) The evolution of microstructure during the transformation of Mg2GeO4 olivine to spinel. Bull. Mineral., 110, 471–80.Google Scholar
Rubie, D.C. and Ross, C.R. (1994) Kinetics of the olivine-spinel transformation in subducting lithosphere: experimental constraints and implications for deep slab processes. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 86, 223–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C. and Thompson, A.B. (1985) Kinetics of metamorphic reactions at elevated temperatures and pressures: an appraisal of available experimental data. In Metamorphic Reactions: Kinetics, Textures and Deformation(Thompson, A. B. and Rubie, D. C., eds. ), Advances in Physical Geochemistry 4, Springer, New York, pp. 27–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubie, D.C., Tsuchida, Y., Yagi, T., Utsumi, W., Kikegawa, T., Shimonura, O. and Brearley, A.J. (1990) An in situ X ray diffraction study of the kinetics of the Ni2SiO4 olivine-spinel transformation. J. Geophys. Res., 95, 15829–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, T.G. and Rubie, D.C. (1995) Catalysis of the olivine to spinel transformation by high clinoenstatite. Science, 269, 1095–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solomatov, V.S. and Stevenson, D.J. (1994) Can sharp seismic discontinuities be caused by non-equilibrium phase transformations. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 125, 267–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sung, C.M. and Burns, R.G. (1976) Kinetics of highpressure phase transformations: implications to the evolution of the olivine-spinel transition in the downgoing lithosphere and its consequences on the dynamics of the mantle. Tectonophysics, 31, 1–32.Google Scholar
Turnbull, D. (1956) Phase changes. Solid State Phys., 3, 225–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, P.J. and Coe, R.S. (1981) Creep mechanism in Mg2GeO4: effects of a phase transition. J. Geophys. Res., 86, 389–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, P.J., Green, H.W. II and Coe, R.S. (1984) Anisotropic growth in the olivine-spinel transformation of Mg2GeO4 under nonhydrostatic stress. Tectonophysics, 108, 299–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, T.-C., Bassett, W.A., Burnley, P.C. and Weathers, M.S. (1993) Shear-promoted phase transitions in Fe2SiO4 and Mg2SiO4 and the mechanism of deep earthquakes. J. Geophys. Res., 98, 19767–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar