Institution: | aInstitute for Frontier Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan bDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan cHigh Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tsukuba 305-0801, Japan |
Abstract: | In situ X-ray diffraction measurements on a calcium aluminosilicate (CAS) phase have been carried out using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell up to a pressure of 44 GPa, employing a synchrotron radiation source. CAS is the major mineral formed from sediments subducted into the Earth's mantle. The sample was heated using a YAG laser after each pressure increment to relax the deviatoric stress in the sample. X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out at T = 300 K using an angle-dispersive technique. The pressure was calculated using an internal platinum metal pressure calibrant. The Birch–Murnaghan equation of state for the CAS phase obtained from the experimental unit cell parameters showed a density of ρ0 = 3.888 g/cm3 and a bulk modulus of K0 = 229 ± 9 GPa for K′0 = 4.7 ± 0.7. When the first pressure derivative of the bulk modulus was fixed at K′0 = 4, then the value of K0 = 239 ± 2 GPa. From the experimental compressibility, the density of the CAS phase was observed to be lower than the density of co-existing Al-bearing stishovite, calcium perovskite, calcium ferrite-type phases, and (Fe,Al)-bearing Mg-perovskite in subducted sediments in the lower mantle. Therefore, the density of subducted sediments in the lower mantle decreases with increasing mineral proportion of the CAS phase. |