Coesite

Coesite

Crossed-polars image of coesite grain (gray) ~1 mm across in eclogite. Small colored inclusion is pyroxene. Polycrystalline rim is quartz.
General
Category Tectosilicate
Formula
(repeating unit)		 SiO2
Strunz classification 04.DA.35
Crystal system monoclinic
Unit cell a = 7.143; b = 12.383; c = 7.143; β = 120.00°, Z = 16
Identification
Formula mass 60.0843
Color Colorless
Crystal habit Inclusions in UHP metamorphic minerals up to 3 mm in size
Crystal symmetry Monoclinic, point group 2/m, space group: C2/c
Cleavage none
Fracture conchoidal
Tenacity brittle
Mohs scale hardness 7.5
Luster vitreous
Streak white
Diaphaneity Transparent
Density 2.92 (calculated)
Optical properties Biaxial
Refractive index nx = 1.594
ny = 1.595
nz = 1.599
Birefringence +0.006
Pleochroism none
2V angle 60–70
References [1]

Coesite is a form (polymorph) of silicon dioxide SiO2 that is formed when very high pressure (2–3 gigapascals), and moderately high temperature (700 °C or 1,300 °F), are applied to quartz. Coesite was first synthesized by Loring Coes, Jr., a chemist at the Norton Company, in 1953.[2][3]

Occurrences

In 1960, a natural occurrence of coesite was reported by Edward C. T. Chao,[4] in collaboration with Eugene Shoemaker, from Barringer Crater, in Arizona, US, which was evidence that the crater must have been formed by an impact. After this report, the presence of coesite in unmetamorphosed rocks was taken as evidence of a meteorite impact event or of an atomic bomb explosion. It was not expected that coesite would survive in high pressure metamorphic rocks.

In metamorphic rocks, coesite was initially described in eclogite xenoliths from the mantle of the Earth that were carried up by ascending magmas; kimberlite is the most common host of such xenoliths.[5] In metamorphic rocks, coesite is now recognized as one of the best mineral indicators of metamorphism at very high pressures (UHP, or ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism).[6] Such UHP metamorphic rocks record subduction or continental collisions in which crustal rocks are carried to depths of 70 km (43 mi) or more. Coesite is formed at pressures above about 2.5 GPa and temperature above about 700 °C. This corresponds to a depth of about 70 km in the Earth. It can be preserved as mineral inclusions in other phases because as it partially reverts to quartz, the quartz rim exerts pressure on the core of the grain, preserving the metastable grain as tectonic forces uplift and expose these rock at the surface. As a result, the grains have a characteristic texture of a polycrystalline quartz rim (see infobox figure).

Coesite has been identified in UHP metamorphic rocks around the world, including the western Alps of Italy at Dora Maira,[6] the Erzgebirge of Germany,[7] the Lanterman Range of Antarctica,[8] in the Kokchetav Massif of Kazakhstan,[9] in the Western Gneiss region of Norway,[10] the Dabie-Shan Range in Eastern China,[11] and the Himalayas of Eastern Pakistan.[12]

Crystal structure

Atomic structure of coesite

Coesite is a tectosilicate with each silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms in a tetrahedron. Each oxygen atom is then bonded to two Si atoms to form a framework. There are two crystallographically distinct Si atoms and five different oxygen positions in the unit cell. Although the unit cell is close to being hexagonal in shape ("a" and "c" are nearly equal and β nearly 120°), it is inherently monoclinic and cannot be hexagonal. The crystal structure of coesite is similar to that of feldspar and consists of four silicon dioxide tetrahedra arranged in Si4O8 and Si8O16 rings. The rings are further arranged into chains. This structure is metastable within the stability field of quartz: coesite will eventually decay back into quartz with a consequent volume increase, although the metamorphic reaction is very slow at the low temperatures of the Earth's surface. The crystal symmetry is monoclinic C2/c, No.15, Pearson symbol mS48.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W. and Nichols, Monte C. (ed.). "Coesite". Handbook of Mineralogy (PDF). II (Silica, Silicates). Chantilly, VA, US: Mineralogical Society of America. ISBN 0962209716. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ The word "coesite" is pronounced as "Coze-ite" after chemist Loring Coes, Jr. Coes, L., Jr. (31 July 1953). "A New Dense Crystalline Silica". Science 118 (3057): 131–132. Bibcode:1953Sci...118..131C. doi:10.1126/science.118.3057.131. PMID 17835139.
  3. ↑ Robert M. Hazen (22 July 1999). The Diamond Makers. Cambridge University Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 978-0-521-65474-6. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Chao, E. C. T.; Shoemaker, E. M.; Madsen, B. M. (1960). "First Natural Occurrence of Coesite". Science 132 (3421): 220–2. Bibcode:1960Sci...132..220C. doi:10.1126/science.132.3421.220. PMID 17748937.
  5. ↑ Smyth, Joseph R.; Hatton, C.J. (1977). "A coesite-sanidine grospydite from the Roberts Victor kimberlite". Earth and Planetary Science Letters 34 (2): 284. Bibcode:1977E&PSL..34..284S. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(77)90012-7.
  6. 1 2 Chopin, Christian (1984). "Coesite and pure pyrope in high-grade blueschists of the Western Alps: a first record and some consequences". Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 86 (2): 107. Bibcode:1984CoMP...86..107C. doi:10.1007/BF00381838.
  7. ↑ Massonne, H.-J. (2001). "First find of coesite in the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic area of the central Erzgebirge, Germany". Eur. J. Mineralogy 13 (3): 565–570. doi:10.1127/0935-1221/2001/0013-0565.
  8. ↑ Ghiribelli, B., Frezzotti, M.L., and Palmeri, R. (2002). "Coesite in eclogites of the Lanterman Range (Antarctica): Evidence from textural and Raman studies". European Journal of Mineralogy 14 (2): 355–360. doi:10.1127/0935-1221/2002/0014-0355.
  9. ↑ Korsakov, A.V., Shatskiy, V. S. and Sobolev N.V. (1998). "Первая находка коэсита в эклогитах Кокчетавского массива (First occurrence of coesite in eclogites from the Kokchetav Massif)". Doklady Akad. Nauk. Earth Science 359: 77–81.
  10. ↑ Smith, D.C. (1984). "Coesite in clinopyroxene in the Caledonides and its implications for geodynamics". Nature 310 (5979): 641–644. Bibcode:1984Natur.310..641S. doi:10.1038/310641a0.
  11. ↑ Schertl, H.-P. & Okay, A.I. (1994). "A coesite inclusion in dolomite in Dabie Shan, China: petrological and rheological significance". Eur. J. Mineral. 6 (6): 995–1000. doi:10.1127/ejm/6/6/0995.
  12. ↑ O'Brien, P.J., N. Zotov, R. Law, M.A. Khan and M.Q. Jan (2001). "Coesite in Himalayan eclogite and implications for models of India-Asia collision". Geology 29 (5): 435–438. Bibcode:2001Geo....29..435O. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0435:CIHEAI>2.0.CO;2.
  13. ↑ Levien L., Prewitt C.T. (1981). "High-pressure crystal structure and compressibility of coesite" (PDF). American Mineralogist 66: 324–333.

External links

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