Akimotoite

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Akimotoite
General
Category Oxide minerals
Ilmenite group
Formula
(repeating unit)
(Mg,Fe)SiO3
IMA symbol Aki [1]
Strunz classification 4.CB.05 [2]
Crystal system Trigonal
Crystal class Rhombohedral (3)
H-M symbol: (3)
Space group R3
Unit cell a = 4.7284, c = 13.5591 [Å]; Z = 6
Identification
ColorColorless
Cleavage perfect (0001)
Luster vitreous
Streak white or colorless
Diaphaneity Transparent
Specific gravity 3.81(calculated)
References [2] [3]

Akimotoite is a rare silicate mineral in the ilmenite group of minerals, with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)SiO3. [4] It is polymorphous with pyroxene and with bridgmanite, a natural silicate perovskite that is the most abundant mineral in Earth's silicate mantle. [2] [5] [6] Akimotoite has a vitreous luster, is colorless, and has a white or colorless streak. It crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system in space group R3. It is the silicon analogue of geikielite (MgTiO3). [2]

Contents

Crystal structure

The crystal structure is similar to that of ilmenite (FeTiO3) with Si and Mg in regular octahedral coordination with oxygen. The Si and Mg octahedra align in discrete layers alternating up the c-axis. The space group is R3 (trigonal) with a = 4.7284 Å; c = 13.5591 Å; V = 262.94 Å3; Z = 6. [7]

Occurrence

Akimotoite was found in the Tenham meteorites in Queensland, Australia. It is believed to have formed as the result of an extraterrestrial shock event. It is the silicon analogue of geikielite (MgTiO3). It was named after physicist Syun-iti Akimoto (also known as Shun'ichi Akimoto (秋本 俊一)) (1925–2004), University of Tokyo. [2]

It has also been reported from the Sixiangkou meteorite in the Gaogang District, Jiangsu Province, Taizhou Prefecture, China; the Zagami Martian meteorite, Katsina State, Nigeria and from the Umbarger meteorite, Randall County, Texas. [2]

Akimotoite is believed to be a significant mineral in the Earth's mantle at depths of 600–800 kilometres (370–500 mi) in cooler regions of the mantle such as where a subducted slab enters into the lower mantle. Akimotoite is elastically anisotropic and has been suggested as a cause of seismic anisotropy in the lower transition zone and uppermost lower mantle. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Pyroxene Group of inosilicate minerals with single chains of silica tetrahedra

The pyroxenes are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula XY(Si,Al)2O6, where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron or magnesium (Mg) and more rarely zinc, manganese or lithium, and Y represents ions of smaller size, such as chromium (Cr), aluminium (Al), magnesium (Mg), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), scandium (Sc), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V) or even iron or. Although aluminium substitutes extensively for silicon in silicates such as feldspars and amphiboles, the substitution occurs only to a limited extent in most pyroxenes. They share a common structure consisting of single chains of silica tetrahedra. Pyroxenes that crystallize in the monoclinic system are known as clinopyroxenes and those that crystallize in the orthorhombic system are known as orthopyroxenes.

Perovskite (structure) Type of crystal structure

A perovskite is any material with a crystal structure following the formula ABX3, which was first discovered as the mineral called perovskite, which consists of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural mountains of Russia by Gustav Rose in 1839 and named after Russian mineralogist L. A. Perovski (1792–1856). 'A' and 'B' are two ions, often of very different sizes, and X is an ion (frequently oxide) that bonds to both ions. The 'A' atoms are generally larger than the 'B' atoms. The ideal cubic structure has the B cation in 6-fold coordination, surrounded by an octahedron of anions, and the A cation in 12-fold cuboctahedral coordination. Additional perovskite forms may exist where either/both the A and B sites have a configuration of A1x-1A2x and/or B1y-1B2y and the X may deviate from the ideal coordination configuration as ions within the A and B sites undergo changes in their oxidation states.

Armalcolite Oxide mineral

Armalcolite is a titanium-rich mineral with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe2+)Ti2O5. It was first found at Tranquility Base on the Moon in 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission, and is named for Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, the three Apollo 11 astronauts. Together with tranquillityite and pyroxferroite, it is one of three new minerals that were discovered on the Moon. Armalcolite was later identified at various locations on Earth and has been synthesized in the laboratory. (Tranquillityite and pyroxferroite were also later found at various locations on Earth). The synthesis requires low pressures, high temperatures and rapid quenching from about 1,000 °C to the ambient temperature. Armalcolite breaks down to a mixture of magnesium-rich ilmenite and rutile at temperatures below 1,000 °C, but the conversion slows down with cooling. Because of this quenching requirement, armalcolite is relatively rare and is usually found in association with ilmenite and rutile, among other minerals.

Periclase Rocksalt, magnesium oxide mineral

Periclase is a magnesium mineral that occurs naturally in contact metamorphic rocks and is a major component of most basic refractory bricks. It is a cubic form of magnesium oxide (MgO). In nature it usually forms a solid solution with wüstite (FeO) and is then referred to as ferropericlase or magnesiowüstite.

Earths mantle A layer of silicate rock between Earths crust and its outer core

Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 1024 kg and thus makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) making up about 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly solid but, on geologic time scales, it behaves as a viscous fluid, sometimes described as having the consistency of caramel. Partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges produces oceanic crust, and partial melting of the mantle at subduction zones produces continental crust.

Post-perovskite (pPv) is a high-pressure phase of magnesium silicate (MgSiO3). It is composed of the prime oxide constituents of the Earth's rocky mantle (MgO and SiO2), and its pressure and temperature for stability imply that it is likely to occur in portions of the lowermost few hundred km of Earth's mantle.

Chondrodite

Chondrodite is a nesosilicate mineral with formula (Mg,Fe)
5
(SiO
4
)
2
(F,OH,O)
2
. Although it is a fairly rare mineral, it is the most frequently encountered member of the humite group of minerals. It is formed in hydrothermal deposits from locally metamorphosed dolomite. It is also found associated with skarn and serpentinite. It was discovered in 1817 at Pargas in Finland, and named from the Greek for "granule", which is a common habit for this mineral.

Melilite Mineral

Melilite refers to a mineral of the melilite group. Minerals of the group are solid solutions of several endmembers, the most important of which are gehlenite and åkermanite. A generalized formula for common melilite is (Ca,Na)2(Al,Mg,Fe2+)[(Al,Si)SiO7]. Discovered in 1793 near Rome, it has a yellowish, greenish-brown color. The name derives from the Greek words meli (μέλι) "honey" and lithos (λίθους) "stone".The name refers to a group of minerals (melilite group) with chemically similar composition, nearly always minerals in åkermanite-gehlenite series.

Alfred Edward "Ted" Ringwood FRS FAA was an Australian experimental geophysicist and geochemist, and the 1988 recipient of the Wollaston Medal.

Wadsleyite Mineral thought to be abundant in the Earths mantle

Wadsleyite is an orthorhombic mineral with the formula β-(Mg,Fe)2SiO4. It was first found in nature in the Peace River meteorite from Alberta, Canada. It is formed by a phase transformation from olivine (α-(Mg,Fe)2SiO4) under increasing pressure and eventually transforms into spinel-structured ringwoodite (γ-(Mg,Fe)2SiO4) as pressure increases further. The structure can take up a limited amount of other bivalent cations instead of magnesium, but contrary to the α and γ structures, a β structure with the sum formula Fe2SiO4 is not thermodynamically stable. Its cell parameters are approximately a = 5.7 Å, b = 11.71 Å and c = 8.24 Å.

Ringwoodite High-pressure phase of magnesium silicate

Ringwoodite is a high-pressure phase of Mg2SiO4 (magnesium silicate) formed at high temperatures and pressures of the Earth's mantle between 525 and 660 km (326 and 410 mi) depth. It may also contain iron and hydrogen. It is polymorphous with the olivine phase forsterite (a magnesium iron silicate).

Majorite is a type of garnet mineral found in the mantle of the Earth. Its chemical formula is Mg3(MgSi)(SiO4)3. It is distinguished from other garnets in having Si in octahedral as well as tetrahedral coordination. Majorite was first described in 1970 from the Coorara Meteorite of Western Australia and has been reported from various other meteorites in which majorite is thought to result from an extraterrestrial high pressure shock event. Mantle derived xenoliths containing majorite have been reported from potassic ultramafic magmas on Malaita Island on the Ontong Java Plateau Southwest Pacific.

Pyrolite is a term used to characterize a model composition of the Earth's mantle. This model is based on that a pyrolite source can produce the Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt by partial melting. It was first proposed by Ted Ringwood (1962) as being 1 part basalt and 4 parts dunite, but later was revised to being 1 part tholeiitic basalt and 3 parts dunite. The term is derived from the mineral names PYR-oxene and OL-ivine. However, whether pyrolite is representative of the Earth's mantle remains debated.

Ferropericlase or magnesiowüstite is a magnesium/iron oxide with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)O that is interpreted to be one of the main constituents of the Earth's lower mantle together with the silicate perovskite, a magnesium/iron silicate with a perovskite structure. Ferropericlase has been found as inclusions in a few natural diamonds. An unusually high iron content in one suite of diamonds has been associated with an origin from the lowermost mantle. Discrete ultralow-velocity zones in the deepest parts of the mantle, near the Earth's core, are thought to be blobs of ferropericlase, as seismic waves are significantly slowed as they pass through them, and ferropericlase is known to have this effect at the high pressures and temperatures found deep within the Earth's mantle. In May 2018, ferropericlase was shown to be anisotropic in specific ways in the high pressures of the lower mantle, and these anisotropies may help seismologists and geologists to confirm whether those ultra-low velocity zones are indeed ferropericlase, by passing seismic waves through them from various different directions and observing the exact amount of change in the velocity of those waves.

Perovskite Oxide mineral

Perovskite (pronunciation: ) is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate (chemical formula CaTiO3). Its name is also applied to the class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure as CaTiO3 (XIIA2+VIB4+X2−3), known as the perovskite structure. Many different cations can be embedded in this structure, allowing the development of diverse engineered materials.

Tenham (meteorite)

Tenham meteorites are the fragments of a larger meteorite that fell in 1879 in a remote area of Australia near the Tenham station, South Gregory, in western Queensland. Although the fall was seen by a number of people, its exact date has not been established. Bright meteors were seen to be moving roughly from west to east. Stones were subsequently recovered from over a large area, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) long by 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide.

Geikielite Magnesium titanium oxide mineral

Geikielite is a magnesium titanium oxide mineral with formula: MgTiO3. It is a member of the ilmenite group. It crystallizes in the trigonal system forming typically opaque, black to reddish black crystals.

Silicate perovskite is either (Mg,Fe)SiO3 or CaSiO3 when arranged in a perovskite structure. Silicate perovskites are not stable at Earth's surface, and mainly exist in the lower part of Earth's mantle, between about 670 and 2,700 km depth. They are thought to form the main mineral phases, together with ferropericlase.

Lower mantle (Earth) The region from 660 to 2900 km below Earths surface

The lower mantle, historically also known as the mesosphere, represents approximately 56% of Earth's total volume, and is the region from 660 to 2900 km below Earth's surface; between the transition zone and the outer core. The preliminary reference Earth model (PREM) separates the lower mantle into three sections, the uppermost (660–770 km), mid-lower mantle (770–2700 km), and the D layer (2700–2900 km). Pressure and temperature in the lower mantle range from 24–127 GPa and 1900–2600 K. It has been proposed that the composition of the lower mantle is pyrolitic, containing three major phases of bridgmanite, ferropericlase, and calcium-silicate perovskite. The high pressure in the lower mantle has been shown to induce a spin transition of iron-bearing bridgmanite and ferropericlase, which may affect both mantle plume dynamics and lower mantle chemistry.

Elgoresyite, first discovered during the crystallographic study of the Suizhou meteorite, is a naturally occurring, high-pressure iron-magnesium silicate mineral. High-pressure poly morphs of magnesium silicates have been rarely discovered on Earth, due to retrograding as they ascend to the surface. It is named after Ahmed El Goresy.

References

  1. Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.43. S2CID   235729616.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Akimotoite". Mindat.org.
  3. "Akimotoite". Webmineral.
  4. Tomioka; Fujino (1999). "Akimotoite, (Mg,Fe)SiO 3, a new silicate mineral of the ilmenite group in the Tenham chondrite".
  5. Tomioka; Fujino (1997). "Natural (Mg,Fe)SiO3-Ilmenite and -Perovskite in the Tenham Meteorite".
  6. Tschauner, Oliver; et al. (2014). "Discovery of bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth, in a shocked meteorite".
  7. Horiuchi, H., Hirano, M., Ito, E., and Matsui, Y. (1982) MgSiO3 (ilmenite-type): single crystal X-ray diffraction study. American Mineralogist, 67, 788-793
  8. Shiraishi, R., Ohtani, E., Kanagawa, K., Shimojuku, A., and Zhao, D. (2008) Crystallographic preferred orientation of akimotoite and seismic anisotropy of Tonga slab. Nature, 455, 657-660