Bonding in silicates: an assessment of bonding in orthopyroxene

The molecular orbital and crystal field theories are compared and their applicabilities to bonding in silicates are discussed, A molecular orbital bonding model is favoured for orthopyroxene since bonding in both tetrahedral and non-tetrahedral sites within the crystal structure can be described and accommodated by the theory. It is suggested that Fe located in M₂ sites has more electron delocalisation (or covalence) associated with it than Fe located in the M₁ site. Order-disorder phenomena in orthopyroxene are discussed in relationship to Mueller's (1970) two-step exchange mechanism, whereby the first step corresponds to vacancy activation and the second step to exchange of Fe between an ‘octahedral’ site and a vacancy.