Synthetic ANaB(NaxLi1 ¡ xMg1)CMg5Si8O22(OH)2 (with x = 0.6, 0.2 and 0) P21/m amphiboles at high pressure: a synchrotron infrared study

Abstract

high-pressure behavior of three synthetic amphiboles crystallized with space group P21/m at room conditions in the system Li2O–Na2O–MgO–SiO2–H2O has been studied by in situ synchrotron infrared absorption spectroscopy. The amphiboles have compositions ANa B(NaxLi1 ¡ xMg1) CMg5 Si8 O22(OH)2 with x = 0.6, 0.2 and 0.0, respectively. The high-P experiments up to 32 GPa were carried out on the U2A beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY, USA) using a diamond anvil cell under non-hydrostatic or quasi-hydrostatic conditions. The two most intense absorption bands in the OH-stretching infrared spectra can be assigned to two non-equivalent O–H dipoles in the P21/m structure, bonded to the same local environment M1M3Mg3–OH–ANa, and pointing toward two diVerently kinked tetrahedral rings. In all samples these bands progressively merge to give a unique symmetrical absorption with increasing pressure, suggesting a change in symmetry from P21/m to C2/m. The pressure at which the transition occurs appears to be linearly correlated to the aggregate B-site dimension. The infrared spectra collected for amphibole B(Na0.2Li0.8Mg1) in the frequency range 50 to 1,400 cm¡1 also show a series of changes with increasing pressure. The data reported here support the inference of Iezzi et al. (Am Miner 91:479–482, 2006a) regarding a new high-pressure C2/m amphibole polymorph characterized by two equivalent and kinked double-chains, stable at very high-pressure.