Thermodynamic mixing properties of Mg(Al,Cr)2O4 spinel crystalline solution at high temperatures and pressures

Three Al-Cr exchange isotherms at 1,250°, 1,050°, and 796° between Mg(Al, Cr)₂O₄ spinel and (Al, Cr)₂O₃ corundum crystalline solutions have been studied experimentally at 25 kbar pressure. Starting from gels of suitable bulk compositions, close approach to equilibrium has been demonstrated in each case by time studies. Using the equation of state for (Al, Cr)₂O₃ crystalline solution (Chatterjee et al. 1982a) and assuming that the Mg(Al, Cr)₂O₄ can be treated in terms of the asymmetric Margules relation, the exchange isotherms were solved for Δ G ^*, and . The best constrained data set from the 1,250° C isotherm clearly shows that the latter two quantities do not overlap within three standard deviations, justifying the choice of asymmetric Margules relation for describing the excess mixing properties of Mg(Al, Cr)₂O₄ spinels. Based on these experiments, the following polybaric-polythermal equation of state can be formulated: , P expressed in bars, T in K, G _m ^ex and W _G,i ^Sp in joules/mol. Temperature-dependence of G _m ^ex is best constrained in the range 796–1,250° C; extrapolation beyond that range would have to be done with caution. Such extrapolation to lower temperature shows tentatively that at 1 bar pressure the critical temperature, T _c, of the spinel solvus is 427° C, with dT_c/dP≈1.3 K/kbar. The critical composition, X _c, is 0.42 , and changes barely with pressure. Substantial error in calculated phase diagrams will result if the significant positive deviation from ideality is ignored for Al-Cr mixing in such spinels.     

Heat capacity of wadeite-type K2Si4O9 and the pressure-induced stable decomposition of K-feldspar

The heat capacity of synthetic, stoichiometric wadeite-type K₂Si₄O₉ has been measured by DSC in the 195≤T(K)≤598 range. Near the upper temperature limit of our data, the heat capacity observed by DSC agrees with that reported by Geisinger et al. (1987) based on a vibrational model of their infrared and Raman spectroscopic data. However, with decreasing temperature, the Cp observed by DSC is progressively higher than that predicted from the vibrational model, suggesting that the standard entropy of K₂Si₄O₉ is likely to be larger than 198.9 ± 4.0 J/K · mol computed from the spectroscopic data. A fit to the DSC data gave: Cp(T) = 499.13 (±1.87) − 4.35014 · 10³(±3.489 · 10¹) · T ^−0.5, with T in K and average absolute percent deviation of 0.37%. The room-temperature compressibilities of kalsilite and leucite, hitherto unknown, have been measured as well. The data, fitted to the Murnaghan equation of state, gave K _o = 58.6 GPa, K _o ^′ = 0.1 for kalsilite and K _o = 45 GPa, K _o ^′ = 5.7 for α-leucite. Apart from the above mentioned data on the properties of the individual phases, we have also obtained reaction-reversals on four equilibria in the system K₂O-Al₂O₃-SiO₂. The Bayesian method has been used simultaneously to process the properties of 13 phases and 15 reactions between them to derive an internally consistent thermodynamic dataset for the K₂O-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ ternary. The enthalpy of formation of K₂Si₄O₉ wadeite is in perfect agreement with its revised calorimetric value, the standard entropy is 232.1 ± 10.4 J/K · mol, ∼15% higher than that implied by vibrational modeling. The phase diagram, generated from our internally consistent thermodynamic dataset, shows that for all probable P-T trajectories in the subduction regime, the stable pressure-induced decomposition of K-feldspar will produce coesite + kalsilite rather than coesite + kyanite + K₂Si₄O₉ (cf. Urakawa et al. 1994). Received: 11 June 1997 / Accepted: 2 December 1997     

Impact of dust storm on the atmospheric boundary layer: a case study from western India

Natural Hazards - The present study focuses on investigating the impacts of a sudden dust storm on the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over Ahmedabad (23.02°N, 72.57°E), an urban site...     

Preliminary analysis of grid ionospheric vertical error for GAGAN

The inverse distance weighted model (IDWM) represents a geo-spatial interpolation technique used for estimation of ionospheric vertical delays at the ionospheric grid points (IGPs) and user ionospheric pierce points (IPPs). The GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system is planned for air-navigation over the Indian service region using a space based augmentation. One of the main needs for GAGAN is to develop a suitable grid-based ionospheric model for estimating the vertical delay and its error bound, i.e., grid ionospheric vertical error (GIVE) at all the IGPs covering the Indian subcontinent. Dual frequency GPS receiver data obtained from 17 total electron content (TEC) stations are considered in the analysis. For a typical IGP (25°N, 75°E), variations in the GIVE for a few days of quiet ionosphere are presented. For a quiet and magnetically moderate day, the mean and standard deviations of the user IPP (UIPP) estimation error and the mean GIVE are presented using the IDWM with Klobuchar, Junkins and bilinear models.     

Pressure-induced (Al,Si)[4]-ordering in dioctahedral micas?

Pure, synthetic 2M₁-muscovites (Ms) and 2M₁-paragonites (Pg) prepared at 7, 13.5, and 18 kbar have been subjected to careful X-ray powder diffractometry and IR powder spectrometry. The results of X-ray studies show that the lattice constants of these micas are independent of the pressure employed in synthesizing them. Similarly, the IR powder spectra of Ms and Pg remain unaffected by the synthesis pressure. Neither the Al^[4]-O-Al^[4] vibrations decrease in relative intensity nor do the Si-O-Al^[4] vibrations increase in intensity with increasing pressure of synthesis, as they should, if pressure-induced (Al, Si)^[4] ordering had been operative. Finally, the v _OH bands in Ms and Pg are also found to retain their fine structural details, regardless of the pressures employed in synthesizing these phases. In particular, the half widths of v _OH in these (Al,Si)^[4]-disordered micas remain constant at around 60 cm⁻¹, compared to ∼ 10 cm⁻¹ in (Al,Si)^[4]-ordered mica margarite. In the light of this study, shortening of the b lattice parameter and progressive (Al,Si)^[4] ordering with increasing pressure of synthesis of muscovites reported by Velde (1980) would appear to be anomalous. Consequently, any discussion of the effect of (Al,Si)^[4] ordering on the stability of muscovite is a moot point at present.     

Zur Tektonik der penninischen Zone in der weiteren Umrahmung des nördlichen Dora-Maira-Massivs,italienische Westalpen

Tectonic analysis within the Mesozoic sequence of the Pennine belt in the vicinity of the northern Dora-Maira massif resulted in the discovery of three different B-axes of Alpine age:

1. 1.
   The oldest one with NNW-trending axes is found to have been developed exclusively to the south and west of the Ambin massif, followed by     

Effect of particle characteristics on the evolution of particle size,particle morphology,and fabric of sands loaded under uniaxial compression

Acta Geotechnica - This paper presents the results and analyses of uniaxial compression experiments performed on three silica sands. The sands have comparable particle-size distributions, but their...     

Synthesis and upper stability of paragonite

The mineral paragonite, NaAl₂[AlSi₃O₁₀ (OH)]₂, has been synthesized on its own composition starting from a variety of different materials. Indexed powder data and refined cell parameters are given for both the 1M and 2M₁ polymorphs obtained. The upper stability limit of paragonite is marked by its breakdown to albite + corundum + vapour. The univariant equilibria pertaining to this reaction have been established by reversing the reaction at six different pressures, the equilibrium curve running through the following intervals: 1 kb: 530°–550° C 2 kb: 555°–575° C 3 kb: 580°–600° C 5kb: 625°–640° C 6 kb: 620°–650° C 7 kb: 650°–670° C.Comparison with the upper stability limit of muscovite (Velde, 1966) shows that paragonite has a notably lower thermal stability thus explaining the field observation that paragonite is absent in many higher grade metamorphic rocks in which muscovite is still stable.The enthalpy and entropy of the paragonite breakdown reaction have been estimated. Since intermediate albites of varying structural states are in equilibrium with paragonite, corundum and H₂O along the univariant equilibrium curve, two sets of data pertaining to the entropy of paragonite (S ₂₉₈ ⁰ ) as well as the enthalpy ( H _f,298 ⁰ ) and Gibbs free energy ( G _f,298 ⁰ ) of its formation were computed, assuming (1) high albite and (2) low albite as the equilibrium phase. The values are: (1) (2) S ₂₉₈ ⁰ 67.8±3.9 cal deg^–1 gfw^–1 63.7±3.9 cal deg^–1 gfw^–1 H _f,298 ⁰ –1417.9±2.7 kcal gfw^–1 –1420.2±2.6 kcal gfw^–1 G _f,298 ⁰ –1327.4±4.0 kcal gfw^–1 –1328.5±4.0 kcal gfw^–1.Adapted from a part of the author's Habilitationsschrift accepted by the Ruhr University, Bochum (Chatterjee, 1968).     

Seismic source zonation for NE India on the basis of past EQs and spatial distribution of seismicity parameters

Journal of Seismology - The North East (NE) of India is an earthquake (EQ) prone zone and has experienced considerable damages in the past due to high intensity EQs. With rapidly growing...     

Ephesite,Na(LiAl2) [Al2Si2O10] (OH)2: II. Thermodynamic analysis of its stability and compatibility relations,and its geological occurrences

The trioctahedral mica ephesite, Na(LiAl₂) [Al₂Si₂O₁₀] (OH)₂, has a large -T stability field in the quaternary system NaAlSiO₄-LiAlSiO₄-Al₂O₃-H₂O. At temperatures below 400–500° C it coexists with diaspore, while at higher temperatures it occurs with corundum, until it decomposes to nepheline +eucryptite+corundum+H₂O at 600–800° C (Fig. 1). Nature faithfully reflects these phase relations; ephesite is found to coexist with diaspore or corundum in silicadeficient metamorphosed rocks or in hydrothermally altered nepheline-syenite pegmatite.Thermodynamic analysis of phase relations of ephesite in the silica saturated portion of the quinary system NaAlSiO₄-LiAlSiO₄-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O shows that the assemblage quartz+ephesite is always metastable with respect to paragonite+spodumene or paragonite+petalite at temperatures down to approximately 300° C (Fig. 3). At lower temperatures, a number of other phases like bikitaite, cookeite, Na-montmorillonite, and analcime are stabilized. Stability and compatibility relations involving these phases are presently not amenable to thermodynamic treatment due to lack of suitable data. Nevertheless, the absence of the assemblage quartz+ephesite in nature seems to vindicate our conclusion that it is metastable down to at least 300° C.The frequently encountered assemblage quartzspodumene (or petalite)-microcline-albite of some lithium pegmatites contains muscovite (±lepidolite), rather than paragonite. The absence of paragonite in such rocks is best explained by the inherent metastability of the phase-pair paragonite+microcline with respect to muscovite+albite. The pegmatite bulk compositions plot in the four-phase field spodumene (petalite)-microcline-muscovite-albite, cutting out paragonite from the observed assemblage Thus, absence of paragonite-spodumene or paragonitepetalite in nature reflects lack of suitable bulk compositions in rocks.