Immiscibility in Ca-amphiboles

The literature data of nine different occurrences of coexistingmineral pairs of Ca-amphibole have been studied and the bulkvectors, spanning the miscibility gap, derived. The additivecomponent is always impure Mg-tremolite accompanied by someglaucophane and cummingtonite component. The four major exchangecomponents required to describe the compositional variationin coexisting mineral pairs are the edenite (ED), tschermak's(TS), FeMg_–1 and Fe³⁺-tschermak's (FeTs) vector. Trivalentiron is postulated on the basis of excess charges in the bulkvector the size of which coincides with residuals in Al^tet,–Si, Fe and –Mg. The four cations have equal sizes,forming the vector Fe³⁺ Al^tet Mg_–1Si_–1. This distributionscheme is consistent for all the different occurrences and setsthe basis for a comparison. Deviations from the scheme wouldradically complicate the proposed exchange pattern. The ratioTS:ED in most mineral samples fluctuates between one and two.Projection of the data points in the vector space TS–EDonto the line 1ED: 2TS (Tr–Hbl) or 1ED:1TS (Tr–Prg)provides the projected tremolite content (= 1–X_Hbl or = 1–X_prg). This parameter,applied to coexisting pairs, and plotted against the ratio Mg/(Mg+ Fe) shows some characteristic features about the miscibilitygap. In the Mg-pure system the solvus is almost symmetric andlocated in the temperature range between 800 and 870C. Smallamounts (0.10 pfu) of Fe²⁺ in the M(4) -sites and replacingCa have a dramatic effect, forcing the solvus to much lowertemperatures of 650C. An increase in the ratio Fe/(Fe + Mg)causes a shift of the solvus towards more tremolitic compositionswith temperatures 500–650C. The maximum asymmetry ofthe solvus is reached where the Al-poor member (tremolite) hasa composition of =1.0 and Mg/ (Mg + Fe) 0.6. The corresponding Al-rich member has =0.5 and Mg/ (Mg + Fe) 0.4. An anomalyof the solous is observed at Mg/ (Mg + Fe)=0.8. It manifestsas a kind of highly asymmetric ‘sub-gap’ in thetremolite-rich composition range. This is explained by the partitioningof Fe²⁺ into the single M(3) -site and is characterized by athermal hump to 650–700C. KEY WORDS: tremolite; hornblende; pargasite; immiscibility; solous