Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Frost, Daniel J.

Publications and source records attributed to Frost, Daniel J..

Equations of state, phase relations, and oxygen fugacity of the Ru-RuO 2 buffer at high pressures and temperatures

Experimental studies and measurements of inclusions in diamonds show that ferric iron components are increasingly stabilized with depth in the mantle. To determine the thermodynamic stability of such components, their concentration needs to be measured at known oxygen fugacities. The metal-oxide pair Ru and RuO 2 are ideal as an internal oxygen fugacity buffer in high-pressure experiments. Both phases remain solid to high temperatures and react minimally with silicates, only exchanging oxygen. To calculate oxygen fugacities at high pressure and temperature, however, requires information on the phase relations and equation of state properties of the solid phases. We have made in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements in a multi-anvil press on mixtures of Ru and RuO 2 to 19.4 GPa and 1473 K with which we have determined phase relations of the RuO 2 phases and derived thermal equations of state (EoS) parameters for both Ru and RuO 2 . Rutile-structured RuO 2 was found to undergo two phase transformations, first at ~7 GPa to an orthorhombic structure and then above 12 GPa to a cubic structure. The phase boundary of the cubic phase was constrained for the first time at high pressure and temperature. We have derived a continuous Gibbs free energy expression for the tetragonal and orthorhombic phases of RuO 2 by fitting the second-order phase transition boundary and P-V-T data for both phases, using a model based on Landau theory. The transition between the orthorhombic and cubic phases was then used along with EoS terms derived for both phases to determine a Gibbs free energy expression for the cubic phase. We have used these data to calculate the oxygen fugacity of the Ru + O 2 = RuO 2 equilibrium, which we have parameterized as a single polynomial across the stability fields of all three phases of RuO 2 . The expression is log 10 f O 2 (Ru – RuO 2 ) = (7.782 – 0.00996P + 0.001932P 2 – 3.76 × 10 –5 P 3 ) + (–13 763 + 592P – 3.955P 2 )/T + (–1.05 × 10 6 – 4622P)/T 2 , which should be valid from room pressure up to 25 GPa and 773–2500 K, with an estimated uncertainty of 0.2 log units. Our calculated fO 2 is shown to be up to 1 log unit lower than estimates that use previous expressions or ignore EoS terms.

Armstrong, Katherine↗

Compressibility and thermal expansion of hydrous ringwoodite with 2.5(3) wt% H[subscript 2]O

Ringwoodite ({gamma}-Mg{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}) is the stable polymorph of olivine in the transition zone between 525-660 km depth, and can incorporate weight percent amounts of H{sub 2}O as hydroxyl, with charge compensated mainly by Mg vacancies (Mg{sup 2+} = 2H{sup +}), but also possibly as (Si{sup 4+} = 4H{sup +} and Mg{sup 2+} + 2H{sup +} = Si{sup 4+}). We synthesized pure Mg ringwoodite containing 2.5(3) wt% H{sub 2}O, measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and determined its compressibility at 300 K by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), as well as its thermal expansion behavior between 140 and 740 K at room pressure. A third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state (BM3 EOS) fits values of the isothermal bulk modulus K{sub T0} = 159(7) GPa and (dK{sub T}/dP){sub P = 0} = K' = 6.7(7) for single-crystal XRD; K{sub T0} = 161(4) GPa and K' = 5.4(6) for powder XRD, with K{sub T0} = 160(2) GPa and K' = 6.2(3) for the combined data sets. At room pressure, hydrous ringwoodite breaks down by an irreversible unit-cell expansion above 586 K, which may be related to dehydration and changes in the disorder mechanisms. Single-crystal intensity data were collected at various temperatures up to 736 K, and show that the cell volume V(cell) has a mean thermal expansion coefficient {alpha}{sub V0} of 40(4) x 10{sup -6}/K (143-736 K), and 29(2) x 10{sup -6}/K (143-586 K before irreversible expansion). V(Mg) have {alpha}{sub 0} values of 41(3) x 10{sup -6}/K (143-736 K), and V(Si) has {alpha}{sub 0} values of 20(3) x 10{sup -6}/K (143-586 K) and 132(4) x 10{sup -6}K (586-736 K). Based on the experimental data and previous work from {sup 29}Si NMR, we propose that during the irreversible expansion, a small amount of H{sup +} cations in Mg sites transfer to Si sites without changing the cubic spinel structure of ringwoodite, and the substituted Si{sup 4+} cations move to the normally vacant octahedral site at (1/2, 1/2, 0). Including new SIMS data on this and several Mg-ringwoodite samples from previous studies, we summarize volume-hydration data and show that the Mg{sup 2+} = 2H{sup +} dominates up to about 2 wt% H{sub 2}O, where a discontinuity in the volume vs. H{sub 2}O content trend suggests that other hydration mechanisms become important at very high H{sub 2}O contents.

Ye, Yu↗

Comparative compressibility of hydrous wadsleyite and ringwoodite: Effect of H 2 O and implications for detecting water in the transition zone: EFFECT OF WATER ON D K /D P OF WADSLEYITE

Review of recent mineral physics literature shows consistent trends for the influence of Fe and H 2 O on the bulk modulus (K0) of wadsleyite and ringwoodite, the major phases of Earth's mantle transition zone (410–660 km). However, there is little consensus on the first pressure derivative, K0' = (dK/dP)P=0, which ranges from about 4 to >5 across experimental studies and compositions. Here we demonstrate the importance of K0' in evaluating the bulk sound velocity of the transition zone in terms of water content and provide new constraints on the effect of H 2 O on K0' for wadsleyite and ringwoodite by conducting a comparative compressibility study. In the experiment, multiple crystals of hydrous Fo90 wadsleyite containing 2.0 and 0.25 wt % H 2 O were loaded into the same diamond anvil cell, along with hydrous ringwoodite containing 1.4 wt % H 2 O. By measuring their pressure-volume evolution simultaneously up to 32 GPa, we constrain the difference in K0' independent of the pressure scale, finding that H 2 O has no effect on K0', whereas the effect of H 2 O on K0 is significant. The fitted K0' values of hydrous wadsleyite (0.25 and 2.0 wt % H 2 O) and hydrous ringwoodite (1.4 wt % H 2 O) examined in this study were found to be identical within uncertainty, with K0' ~3.7(2). New secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements of the H 2 O content of these and previously investigated wadsleyite samples shows the bulk modulus of wadsleyite is reduced by 7.0(5) GPa/wt % H 2 O, independent of Fe content for upper mantle compositions. Because K0' is unaffected by H 2 O, the reduction of bulk sound velocity in very hydrous regions of transition zone is expected to be on the order of 1.6%, which is potentially detectible in high-resolution, regional seismology studies.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗