Iron‐dominant metallic phases are likely the primary hosts for nitrogen in the reduced deep Earth, hence the storage of nitrogen in the lower mantle and the core is governed by the behavior of the Fe‐N‐C system at high temperatures and pressures. In this study, phase transitions and thermoelastic properties of iron carbonitrides were investigated at high pressure‐temperature conditions by diamond anvil cell experiments and first‐principles calculations. Experimental data revealed no phase transition in
This content will become publicly available on March 28, 2025
Jeffbenite (Mg3Al2Si3O12) is a tetragonal phase found in so far only in superdeep diamonds, and its thermoelastic parameters are a prerequisite for determining entrapment pressures as it is regarded as a potential indicator for superdeep diamonds. In this study, the thermoelastic properties of synthetic Fe3+‐jeffbenite were measured up to 33.7 GPa and 750 K. High‐temperature static compression data were fitted, giving (
- Award ID(s):
- 1853521
- PAR ID:
- 10541465
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Geophysical Union
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract ε ‐type Fe4(N0.6C0.4) or Fe7(N0.75C0.25)3up to 60 GPa at room temperature. At high temperature, Fe7(N0.75C0.25)3transforms into the Fe3C‐type phase at ∼27 GPa, and then into the Fe7C3‐type phase at ∼45 GPa, which is also corroborated by our theoretical calculations. We found that the phase stability of iron carbonitrides mainly depends on the N/C ratio, and the elastic properties of iron carbonitrides are dominantly affected by the Fe/(N+C) ratio. Iron carbonitrides with diverse structures may be the main host for nitrogen in the deep mantle. Some iron carbonitride inclusions in lower mantle diamonds could be the residue of the primordial mantle or originate from subducted nitrogen‐bearing materials, rather than iron‐enriched phases of the outer core. In addition, our experiments confirmed the existence of Fe7C3‐type Fe7C3‐Fe7N3solid solutions above 40 GPa. Fe7C3‐type Fe7(C, N)3has comparable density and thermoelastic properties to its isostructural endmembers and may be a promising candidate constituent of the Earth's inner core. -
Abstract Superdeep diamonds contain unique information from the sublithospheric regions of Earth's interior. Recent studies suggest that reaction between subducted carbonate and iron metal in the mantle plays an important role in the production of superdeep diamonds. It is unknown if this reaction is kinetically feasible in cold slabs subducted into the deep mantle. Here we present experimental data on real‐time tracking of the magnesite‐iron reaction at high pressures and high temperatures to demonstrate the production of diamond at the surface conditions of cold slabs in the transition zone and lower mantle. Our data reveal that the diamond production rate has a positive temperature dependence and a negative pressure dependence, and along a slab geotherm it decreases by a factor of three at pressures from 14.4 to 18.4 GPa. This rate reduction provides an explanation for the rarity of superdeep diamonds from the interior of the mantle transition zone.
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Abstract Nitrogen, the most abundant element in Earth's atmosphere, is also a primary component of solid nitride minerals found in meteorites and on Earth's surface. If they remain stable to high pressures and temperatures, these nitrides may also be important reservoirs of nitrogen in planetary interiors. We used synchrotron X‐ray diffraction to measure the thermal equation of state and phase stability of titanium nitride (TiN) in a laser‐heated diamond anvil cell at pressures up to ∼70 GPa and temperatures up to ∼2,500 K. TiN maintains the cubic B1 (NaCl‐type) crystal structure over the entire pressure and temperature range explored. It has
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Abstract Omphacite is a major mineral phase of eclogite, which provides the main driving force for the slab subduction into the Earth's interior. We have measured the single‐crystal elastic moduli of omphacite at high pressures for the first time up to 18 GPa at ambient temperature using Brillouin spectroscopy. A least squares fit of the velocity‐pressure data to the third‐order finite strain equation of state yields
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Abstract Identifying and locating the geochemical and geophysical heterogeneities in the Earth’s interior is one of the most important and challenging tasks for the deep Earth scientists. Subducted oceanic crust metamorphizes into the dense eclogite in the upper mantle and is considered as a major cause of geochemical and geophysical heterogeneities in the deep Earth. In order to detect eclogitic materials inside the Earth, precise measurements of the high pressure‐temperature single‐crystal elasticity of major minerals in eclogite are thus exceedingly important. Omphacite, a Na,Al‐bearing clinopyroxene, constitutes up to 75 vol% of eclogite. In the present study, we performed the first high pressure‐temperature single‐crystal elasticity measurements of omphacite using Brillouin spectroscopy. Utilizing the finite‐strain approach, we obtained the following thermoelastic parameters for omphacite:
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