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In situ determination of the compressibility of synthetic pure zircon (ZrSiO₄) and the onset of the zircon-reidite phase transition

Wim Van Westrenen^1,*, Mark R. Frank^2,, John M. Hanchar³, Yingwei Fei², Robert J. Finch⁴ and Chang-Sheng Zha⁵

¹ Institut für Mineralogie und Petrographie, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, ETH-Zentrum NO E 51, CH-8092, Switzerland.
² Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, D.C. 20015, U.S.A.
³ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The George Washington University, 101A Bell Hall, 2029 G Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006, U.S.A.
⁴ Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, CMT/205, Argonne, Illinois 60439, U.S.A.
⁵ Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Wilson Lab, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

Correspondence: ^* E-mail: willem.vanwestrenen{at}erdw.ethz.ch

We have determined the room-temperature compressibility of pure, synthetic zircon (ZrSiO₄). Unit-cell volumes of a powdered sample were determined in situ as a function of pressure up to 27 GPa in a diamond anvil cell (DAC), by using angle-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Unit-cell volumes were fitted to a Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, resulting in a room-temperature bulk modulus for the zircon structure, K_T0 = 199 ± 1 GPa, and ambient pressure unit-cell volume V₀ = 260.89 ± 0.03 ų, when (K_T0/P)_T = K'_T0 is fixed at 4. This bulk modulus is over 12% lower than that suggested by earlier measurements using impure, natural zircon sample. In addition, we observed the start of the transformation of zircon to reidite (scheelite-structured ZrSiO₄) at a pressure of 19.7 GPa, over 3 GPa lower than previously determined for natural (impure) zircon. Together with compressibility measurements of a trace-element-doped zircon, these observations suggest that impurities affect the phase transition kinetics and compressibility of zircon, and by analogy, perhaps of other silicate minerals.

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