Abstract
The crystal structure of (Mg1.54Li0.23Sc0.23)Si2O6 protopyroxene has been studied with single- crystal X-ray diffraction at pressures to 9.98 GPa and Raman spectroscopy to 10.4 GPa. A first-order displacive phase transformation from the Pbcn space group to P21cn was observed between 2.03 and 2.50 GPa, which is characterized by a discontinuous decrease in a, c, and V by 1.1, 2.4, and 2.6%, respectively, and an increase in b by 0.9%, along with appearance of intensities of some 0kl reflections with k ≠ 2n. This is the first substantiated example of protopyroxene having the symmetry predicted by Thompson (1970). Evidence for the phase transition from Raman spectroscopy is also presented. The prominent structural changes associated with the Pbcn-to-P21cn transformation involve the abrupt splitting of one type of O-rotated silicate chain in low-pressure protopyroxene into S-rotated A and O-rotated B chains in high-pressure protopyroxene, coupled with a marked decrease in the O3-O3-O3 angles and a re-configuration of O atoms around the M2 site. The kinking angle of the silicate chain in the low-pressure phase at 2.03 GPa is 165.9°, whereas the angles are 147.9° and 153.9° for the A and B chains, respectively, in highpressure phase at 2.50 GPa. Strikingly, the two types of silicate chains in the P21cn structure alternate along the b axis in a tetrahedral layer parallel to (100). Such a mixed arrangement of two differently rotated silicate chains in a tetrahedral layer has not been observed in any other pyroxene structure. Compression anisotropy of the protopyroxene structure is affected by the phase transition. The relative linear compressibilities (βa:βb:βc) are 1.00:1.72:0.99 for low-pressure protopyroxene, but are 1.00:1.28:1.65 for high-pressure protopyroxene. The bulk moduli of low- and high-pressure phases are 130(3) and 111(1) GPa, respectively. This study concludes that the Pbcn-to-P21cn phase transition results from the differential compression between SiO4 tetrahedra and MO6 octahedra.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston