Zagamiite, CaAl2Si3.5O11, the Hexagonal High-Pressure CAS Phase with Dominant Si, as a Mineral from Mars

Within the Ca-Al-silicate system, dense, layered hexagonal phases occur at high temperatures and pressures between 20 and 23 GPa. They have been observed both in nature and in experiments. In this study, we describe the endmember with a dominant sixfold coordinated Si as a mineral zagamiite (IMA 201...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMinerals (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 18
Main Authors Ma, Chi, Tschauner, Oliver, Beckett, John R., Greenberg, Eran, Prakapenka, Vitali B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2024
Subjects
Aluminum
CaAl2Si3.5O11
Calcium
CAS phase
Crystallization
Hexagonal phase
High temperature
high-pressure mineral
Iron
Magnesium
Mars
Martian meteorite
Meteors & meteorites
Minerals
Optimization
Plagioclase
Scanning electron microscopy
shock metamorphism
Silicates
Silicon
SNC meteorites
Solidus
Unit cell
Zagamiite
Nigeria
United States > US
California
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Summary:Within the Ca-Al-silicate system, dense, layered hexagonal phases occur at high temperatures and pressures between 20 and 23 GPa. They have been observed both in nature and in experiments. In this study, we describe the endmember with a dominant sixfold coordinated Si as a mineral zagamiite (IMA 2015-022a). This new mineral identified in Martian meteorites has a general formula of (Ca,Na)(Al,Fe,Mg)2(Si,Al,□)4O11, thus defining CaAl2Si3.5O11 as a previously unknown endmember of the hexagonal CAS phases. Zagamiite assumes space group P63/mmc with a unit cell of a = 5.403(2) Å, c = 12.77(3) Å, V = 322.9(11) Å3, and Z = 2. Zagamiite contains significant Fe and Mg and a substantial deficit of Na relative to plagioclase of an equivalent Al/Si, suggesting that it was formed through crystallization from a melt that was derived from a plagioclase-dominant mixture of plagioclase and clinopyroxene above the solidus beyond 20 GPa.
ISSN:2075-163X
2075-163X
DOI:10.3390/min14010018