Pressure dependence of structural parameters of paragonite

The compressibility and structure of a 2M₁ paragonite with composition Na_0.88K_0.10Ca_0.01Ba_0.01] Al_1.97Ti_0.007Fe_0.01Mn_0.002Mg_0.006]Si_3.01Al_0.99O₁₀OH₂ were determined at pressures between 1 bar and 41 kbar, by single crystal X-ray diffraction using a Merrill-Bassett diamond anvil cell. Compressibility turned out to be largely anisotropic, linear compressibility coefficients parallel to the unit cell edges being β_a=3.5(1)·10^?4, β_b=3.6(1)·10^?4, β_c=8.3(3)·10^?4 kbar^?1 (β_a:β_b·β_c=1:1028:2.371). The isothermal bulk modulus, calculated as the reciprocal of the mean compressibility of the cell volume, was 650(20) kbar. The main features of the deformation mechanism resulting from structural refinements at pressures of 0.5, 25.4, 40.5 kbar were: –?variation in sheet thickness, showing that compression of the c parameter was mainly due to the interlayer thickness reduction from 3.07 Å at 0.5 kbar to 2.81 Å at 40.5 kbar; –?the compressibility of octahedra was greater than that of tetrahedra, the dimensional misfit between tetrahedral and octahedral sheets increased with P, so that tetrahedral rotation angel α increased from 15° at 0.5 kbar to 21.6° at 40.5 kbar; –?the basal surface corrugation (Δz) of the tetrahedral layer, due to the different dimensions of M1 and M2 octahedra and to the octahedral distortion, decreased with P (Δz=0.19 and 0.12 Å at 0.5 and 40.5 kbar respectively). Comparison of the new data on paragonite with those of a K-muscovite and a Na-rich muscovite (Comodi and Zanazzi 1995) revealed a clear trend toward decreasing of compressibility when Na substitutes for K atoms in the interlayer sites.