Orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene equilibria in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (CMAS): new experimental results and implications for two-pyroxene thermometry

A new set of reversal experiments for coexisting ortho- and clinopyroxenes in the system CMAS at conditions between 1,000–1,570° C and 30 to 50 kb is presented and combined with literature data. Pyroxene behaviour, particularly that of clinopyroxene, is very complicated and different styles of Al incorporation into the pyroxene structure for low and high concentrations of Al are indicated, strongly influencing the exchange of the enstatite component between ortho- and clinopyroxene. Thermodynamic modelling of this exchange is problematic because of the large number of unknown coefficients compared to the number of experiments. Thermometry based on such models becomes very dependent on accuracy of experimental data and analyses of small quantities of elements. Despite this complexity very simple empirical thermometric equations are capable of reproducing experimental conditions in the systems CMS and CMAS over a wide range of P, T conditions. We derived the equation which gives a mean error of estimate of 25° C when applied to CMS and CMAS data.Abbreviations Used in the Text cpx clinopyroxene - di diopside, CaMgSi₂O₆ - en enstatite, Mg₂Si₂O₆ - opx orthopyroxene - px Pyroxene - py pyrope - a_i^j activity of component i in phase j - activity coefficient - G_P,T(A) molar Gibbs free energy difference of reaction (A) at P, T - X_i^j mole fraction of component i in phase j