Deformation of Lower-Mantle Ferropericlase (Mg,Fe)O Across the Electronic Spin Transition
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Phys Chem Minerals DOI 10.1007/s00269-009-0303-5 ORIGINAL PAPER Deformation of lower-mantle ferropericlase (Mg,Fe)O across the electronic spin transition Jung-Fu Lin Æ Hans-Rudolf Wenk Æ Marco Voltolini Æ Sergio Speziale Æ Jinfu Shu Æ Thomas S. Duffy Received: 8 January 2009 / Accepted: 31 March 2009 Ó Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract Recent high-pressure studies have shown that Our radial X-ray diffraction results show that the {0 0 1} an electronic spin transition of iron in ferropericlase, an texture is the dominant lattice preferred orientation in expected major phase of Earth’s lower mantle, results in ferropericlase across the spin transition and in the low-spin changes in its properties, including density, incompress- state. Viscoplastic self-consistent polycrystal plasticity ibility, radiative thermal conductivity, electrical conduc- simulations suggest that this preferred orientation pattern is tivity, and sound velocities. To understand the rheology of produced by {1 1 0}\1–10[ slip. Analyzing our radial ferropericlase across the spin transition, we have used in X-ray diffraction patterns using lattice strain theory, we situ radial X-ray diffraction techniques to examine ferro- evaluated the lattice d-spacings of ferropericlase and Mo as periclase, (Mg0.83,Fe0.17)O, deformed non-hydrostatically a function of the w angle between the compression direc- in a diamond cell up to 81 GPa at room temperature. tion and the diffracting plane normal. These analyses give Compared with recent quasi-hydrostatic studies, the range the ratio between the uniaxial stress component (t) and the of the spin transition is shifted by approximately 20 GPa as shear modulus (G) under constant stress condition, which a result of the presence of large differential stress in the represents a proxy for the supported differential stress and sample. We also observed a reduction in incompressibility elastic strength. This ratio in the mixed-spin and low-spin and in the unit cell volume of 3% across the spin transition. states is lower than what is expected from previous studies of high-spin ferropericlase, indicating that the spin transi- tion results in a reduced differential stress and elastic J.-F. Lin (&) strength along with the volume reduction. The influence of Department of Geological Sciences, the spin transition on the differential stress and strength of Jackson School of Geosciences, ferropericlase is expected to be less dominant across the The University of Texas at Austin, wide spin transition zone at high pressure–temperature Austin, TX 78712, USA e-mail: [email protected] conditions relevant to the lower mantle. H.-R. Wenk Á M. Voltolini Keywords Ferropericlase Á Spin transition Á Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Lower mantle Á Deformation Á Radial X-ray diffraction University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA S. Speziale GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, Introduction 14473 Potsdam, Germany J. Shu Earth’s lower mantle is believed to consist of approxi- Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, mately one-third ferropericlase [(Mg,Fe)O] and two-thirds Washington, DC 20015, USA aluminous silicate perovskite [Al-(Mg,Fe)SiO3], together with a few percent of calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO ), T. S. Duffy 3 Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, based on a pyrolytic compositional model (Ringwood Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 1982). The lattice preferred orientation and elastic 123 Phys Chem Minerals anisotropy of this mineral assemblage are thus predomi- radial X-ray diffraction (RXD) of ferropericlase deformed nantly responsible for the development of the lower mantle non-hydrostatically across the spin transition in a diamond deformation and the origin of the seismic anisotropy (e.g., anvil cell (DAC) up to 81 GPa. We analyze the texture, Karato 1998; Stretton et al. 2001; McNamara et al. 2002; differential stress, and strength of ferropericlase in the Merkel et al. 2002; Yamazaki and Karato 2002; Heidelbach high-spin, mixed-spin, and low-spin states, and discuss the et al. 2003; Long et al. 2006; Tommaseo et al. 2006; Wenk influence of the spin transition on the deformation of et al. 2006). Therefore, studying the lattice preferred ferropericlase. orientation, plastic flow and flow-induced fabrics in ferropericlase, perovskite, and post-perovskite is of great importance to understanding geophysics and geodynamics Experimental method of the lower mantle. Although ferropericlase constitutes only approximately one-third of this region by volume, it A beryllium gasket was pre-indented to a thickness of exhibits weaker creep strength and higher elastic anisotropy 25 lm using a panoramic DAC with a pair of beveled than the more abundant perovskite and perhaps diamonds with 150-lm inner culets and 300-lm outer post-perovskite, and likely plays important roles in the culets. A hole of 40 lm was drilled in the pre-indented deformation of the lower mantle. Recent texture studies of gasket and used as the sample chamber (Fig. 1). A small pure MgO and high-spin ferropericlase at high pressures flake of polycrystalline Mo, approximately 15 lmin indicate that the {1 1 0}\1–10[slip system (i.e., slip on the diameter and 2 lm in thickness, was placed into the sample planes {1 1 0} in the \110[ directions), dominates at chamber and used as the pressure calibrant and X-ray room temperature (Merkel et al. 2002; Tommaseo et al. marker. Polycrystalline ferropericlase [(Mg0.83,Fe0.17)O] 2006; Wenk et al. 2006), whereas at higher temperature sample was then loaded into the sample chamber and slip on {1 0 0} and {1 1 0} planes in the \110[ direc- compressed under non-hydrostatic conditions. The poly- tion becomes equally active (e.g., Stretton et al. 2001). crystalline (Mg0.83,Fe0.17)O sample was synthesized by These studies have all been performed on high-spin fer- sintering stoichiometric mixtures of MgO and Fe powder ropericlase or pure MgO and therefore may not reflect the under a controlled CO2–CO atmosphere near the iron- properties of ferropericlase in the mixed-spin and low-spin wu¨stite buffer (Lin et al. 2005). The ferric iron (Fe3?) states under lower mantle conditions. content of the samples was below the detection limit of Electronic spin-pairing transitions of iron have been Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy and magnetite (Fe3O4) was not recently reported to occur in lower-mantle ferropericlase, detected in the X-ray diffraction pattern. perovskite, and post-perovskite at high pressures and/or High-pressure RXD experiments in a DAC were con- high temperatures (e.g., Badro et al. 2003; Sturhahn et al. ducted using energy-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffrac- 2005; Persson et al. 2006; Tsuchiya et al. 2006; Fei et al. tion at beamline X17C of the National Synchrotron Light 2007; Lin et al. 2005, 2007a, 2008; McCammon et al. Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). 2008). These studies indicate that the high-spin to low-spin transition of iron in ferropericlase occurs at approximately 40–50 GPa and room temperature (i.e., see Lin and Tsuchiya 2008 for a recent review). At the lower mantle pressure–temperature conditions, a wide spin transition zone (STZ) in ferropericlase may occur from approximately 1,000 km in depth to 2,200 km, i.e., from the top to the bottom of the lower mantle (Lin et al. 2007a). Furthermore, the spin transition of iron results in increased density and incompressibility, and reduced radiative thermal conduc- tivity and electrical conductivity from the high-spin to the low-spin ferropericlase (Goncharov et al. 2006; Fei et al. 2007; Keppler et al. 2007; Lin et al. 2005, 2006b, 2007b, 2008; Crowhurst et al. 2008). In addition, a reduction in sound velocities and elastic moduli of ferropericlase with 6% FeO within the transition has been recently reported, though its elastic anisotropy factor remains high through the transition (Crowhurst et al. 2008). To understand the effects Fig. 1 Image of the ferropericlase [(Mg0.83,Fe0.17)O] sample taken in transmitted light in a DAC at *16 GPa. A small flake of polycrys- of the spin transition on the deformation of ferropericlase talline Mo was used as the pressure calibrant and X-ray marker. Be under lower mantle pressures, we have carried out in situ gasket was used to contain the sample and Mo at high pressures 123 Phys Chem Minerals A polychromatic incident X-ray beam with energy range of about 20–30 min each. The w angle is defined as 0° when approximately 22–70 keV was focused to approximately the diffracting plane normal is parallel to the stress axis of 10 lm in diameter (full width at half maximum (FWHM)) the DAC, and 90° when the diffracting plane normal is at the sample position, and a set of cleanup slits was used to perpendicular to the stress axis. reduce the tails of the focused X-ray beam. X-ray fluo- The d-spacings of the X-ray diffraction peaks were rescence and absorption of Mo were used to align the obtained by fitting Voigt line shapes to the diffraction sample chamber with the incident X-rays. The incident spectra after background subtraction. For Mo, five dif- X-ray beam passed radially through the Be gasket perpen- fraction lines (110, 200, 211, 220, and 310) were used for dicular to the compression axis of the DAC. RXD patterns the analyses, while six diffraction lines of ferropericlase of ferropericlase [(Mg0.83,Fe0.17)O] and Mo were detected (111, 200, 220, 311, 222, and 400) were used. The corre- between 16 GPa and 81 GPa by a Ge solid-state detector at sponding equivalent hydrostatic pressures were determined a2h of 128 (Fig. 2) (Singh et al. 1998). At each pressure, from the lattice parameters of Mo obtained from the RXD patterns were collected as a function of the angle (w) measured d-spacings at w of 54.7° (Singh et al.