Zur Stabilität des Ferrocordierits

Ferrocordierite with Fe⁺²/Fe⁺²+Mg=0,92 was synthesized as a single phase at 600° C and 1000 bars total pressure using cristobalite and natural monoclinic chloritoid as starting materials. Oxygen fugacities during synthesis were those given by the buffering power of the hydrothermal bombs. Pure ferrocordierite without Mg synthesized from various artificial starting materials was never obtained as a single phase, but coexisted with variable amounts of metastable hercynite+quartz. The ferrocordierites made in this study are orthorhombic with distortion indices Δ up to 0,26° as a function of pressure, temperature, and duration of the runs. The lattice constantsa ₀ = 17,234 and b₀ = 9,824 are considerably larger, c₀ = 9,298 smaller than those of pure Mg-cordierite; mean indices of refraction vary within the range 1,569–1,573±0,002. In successful breakdown experiments natural Fe-rich cordierite intergrown with quartz from Mujinazawa, Japan, as well as the most Fe-rich natural cordierite so far discovered, from Dolni Bory, Moravia, were used. Ferrocordierite is stable only above relatively high temperatures (450°–600° C depending on pressure), which are within the limits of determination identical to the lower stability limits of Mg-cordierite. In contrast to the latter phase, however, ferrocordierite becomes unstable at a yet undefined pressure between 6000 and 10000 bars. The stable breakdown products at low temperatures are chloritoid+quartz or - possibly only at very low pressures - assemblages with 7 Å-chamosite, which have been synthesized (metastably ?) over a more extended PT-range. Runs seeded with chloritoid + cristobalite did not yield critical evidence as to the more stable ,assemblage. Except for occasional small amounts of pyrophyllite there is considerable uncertainty concerning the aluminous phase coexisting with chamosite; kaolinite with all critical peaks covered by chamosite orγ-Al₂0₃ amorphous to X-rays may be present. At high temperatures and at a pressure of 10000 bars ferrocordierite broke down to assemblages containing an orthoamphibole, probably ferrogedrite. It is uncertain, however, whether these assemblages represent stable equilibrium, or whether they are metastable substitutes for other parageneses, e.g. almandite silimanite + quartz. Given the requisite bulk compositions and geothermal gradients ferrocordierite remains stable under static conditions to crustal depths of at least 20 km. ThusChinner's mechanism of differential breakdown of Fe-bearing cordierites with increasing pressures may operate in deep zones of regional metamorphism within orogenic belts, but appears unlikely in shallow posttectonic contact metamorphism, unless this metamorphism is caused by hot basic magmas producing temperatures above the incongruent melting of ferrocordierite. In contrast to the relations found for Mg-cordierite the formation of feroocordierite is very sluggish, the more so the higher the temperature and pressure. Intermediate metastable assemblages of other phases appear in its place. It seems possible that these unfavorable reaction kinetics are - opposed to thermodynamic equilibrium - in part responsible for the rare occurrence of Fe-rich cordierites in nature. The overlap of the stability fields of ferrocordierite and chloritoid as demonstrated in this study allows the stable coexistence of these two phases within a limited temperature range.