Electron optical and X-ray powder diffraction study of synthetic and natural potassic cordierites

The microstructural and X-ray diffraction characteristics of natural K-bearing cordierites in buchites (Blaue Kuppe, Germany), and paralavas (Bokaro, India) are compared to those of three suites of synthetic, K-bearing Mg-cordierite, studied after annealing glasses of the requisite compositions for durations between 5 min and 255 days at 1,290° C and 1 bar. In analogy to pure Mg-cordierite, hexagonal high-cordierite initially crystallizes from the glass and subsequently transforms to orthorhombic low-cordierite. After annealing for 30–60 min, the crystals develop tweed-structure. With prolonged annealing, the pattern coarsens and develops into lamellar twinning. Higher K-contents favour earlier development of tweed-contrast. Distortion indices obtained by X-ray powder diffraction show a sharp initial increase of with annealing time, followed by a levelling off after approximately 10 h. Higher K-contents delay this initial increase, and decrease drastically the maximum distortion index that can be attained. The contrasting observations with respect to increasing K-content are due to the different levels of information yielded by TEM and X-ray diffraction. Analyses of electron diffraction patterns indicate that the metric state of individual crystals in any single sample annealed for more than one hour is highly heterogeneous, while no compositional differences could be detected. Hexagonal and variously distored crystals coexist. Thus intermediate structural states of cordierite in the classical sense are shown to exist, although intermediate distortion indices obtained by routine X-ray powder diffraction are largely due to a summation effect over such structurally heterogeneous populations. Although distinct differences in microstructure between the synthetic and the natural Fe²⁺-bearing cordierites exist, the Bokaro samples most closely resemble the early (1–10 h) tweed-structure of the synthetic products, whereas the Blaue Kuppe samples are comparable to a more mature (1–3 days) stage. It is thus concluded that the cordierite-bearing Bokaro paralavas cooled considerably faster than the Blaue Kuppe buchites.