Spinel-pyroxene-garnet relationships and their dependence on Cr/Al ratio

The partitioning of Cr and Al between coexisting spinel and clinopyroxene and the dependence of spinel-cpxgarnet equilibria on Cr/Al ratio have been investigated by a combination of phase equilibrium experiments, high temperature solution calorimetry and thermodynamic calculations.The exchange equilibrium: has a measured enthalpy change for pure phases of –2,100±500 cal at 970 K and 1 atm. Experimental reversals of Cr-Al partitioning between the spinel and clinopyroxene phases yield the following partitioning relationship: where X _i ^j refers to atomic fraction of i in the octahedral sites of phase j. The compositional dependence of partitioning implies that Al-Cr mixing in spinel is nonideal with, on the symmetrical model, a W _Cr-Al ^Sp of 2,700±500 cal/gm. atom. In contrast, aluminum-chromium mixing in clinopyroxene is close to ideal.The measured stability field of knorringite (Mg₃Cr₂Si₂O₁₂) and mixing properties of garnet have been used in conjunction with our experimental data to calculate the influence of Cr/Al ratio on the important reaction: orthopyroxene+clinopyroxene+spinel=olivine+garnetThe stability field of spinel lherzolite increases by about 2.8 Kb for every increase of 0.1 in Cr/(Cr+Al) ratio up to Cr/(Cr+Al) of 0.7. The calculated stabilization is in very good agreement with the experimental results of O'Neill (1981). The partitioning relationships are such that, at the low ratios of Cr/Al (0.07) of primitive lherzolite, clinopyroxene buffers spinel composition and sharpens the spinelgarnet reaction interval from 10 Kb (little or no clinopyroxene) down to about 2 Kb in pyroxene-rich pyrolite.