High-pressure orthorhombic ferromagnesite as a potential deep-mantle carbon carrier

Carbon Dioxide under Earth Mantle Conditions: From a Molecular Liquid through a Reactive Fluid to Polymeric Regimes

In both its gaseous and condensed forms, carbon dioxide has an ever-increasing impact on Earth's chemistry and human life and activities. However, many aspects of its high-pressure phase diagram remain unclear. In this work, we present a complete structural characterization of carbon dioxide fluids under geological conditions using extensive ab initio molecular dynamics simulations throughout a wide pressure and temperature range, corresponding to Earth's lower mantle. We identify and describe four different disordered regimes, including two polymeric forms and two molecular ones, all within the geothermal conditions of the lower mantle. At pressures below 40 GPa, we find that the molecular liquid becomes very reactive above 2000 K: the C-O double bond routinely breaks, resulting in small and transient chains composed of CO₂ units and frequently leading to an exchange of oxygen atoms between molecules. At higher pressures, in addition to the polymeric fluid previously reported at 3000 K, we find a polymeric system with glass-like behavior at lower temperatures, suggesting a complex interplay between kinetics and stability.

Phase Stability and Vibrational Properties of Iron-Bearing Carbonates at High Pressure

The spin transition of iron can greatly affect the stability and various physical properties of iron-bearing carbonates at high pressure. Here, we reported laser Raman measurements on iron-bearing dolomite and siderite at high pressure and room temperature. Raman modes of siderite FeCO3 were investigated up to 75 GPa in the helium (He) pressure medium and up to 82 GPa in the NaCl pressure medium, respectively. We found that the electronic spin-paring transition of iron in siderite occurred sharply at 42–44 GPa, consistent with that in the neon (Ne) pressure medium in our previous study. This indicated that the improved hydrostaticity from Ne to He had minimal effects on the spin transition pressure. Remarkably, the spin crossover of siderite was broadened to 38–48 GPa in the NaCl pressure medium, due to the large deviatoric stress in the sample chamber. In addition, Raman modes of iron-bearing dolomite Ca1.02Mg0.76Fe0.20Mn0.02(CO3)2 were explored up to 58 GPa by using argon as a pressure medium. The sample underwent phase transitions from dolomite-Ⅰ to -Ⅰb phase at ~8 GPa, and then to -Ⅱ at ~15 and -Ⅲb phase at 36 GPa, while no spin transition was observed in iron-bearing dolomite up to 58 GPa. The incorporation of FeCO3 by 20 mol% appeared to marginally decrease the onset pressures of the three phase transitions aforementioned for pure dolomite. At 55–58 GPa, the ν1 mode shifted to a lower frequency at ~1186 cm−1, which was likely associated with the 3 + 1 coordination in dolomite-Ⅲb. These results shed new insights into the nature of iron-bearing carbonates at high pressure.

Decarbonation Reactions Involving Ankerite and Dolomite under upper Mantle P,T-Parameters: Experimental Modeling

An experimental study aimed at the modeling of dolomite- and ankerite-involving decarbonation reactions, resulting in the CO2 fluid release and crystallization of Ca, Mg, Fe garnets, was carried out at a wide range of pressures and temperatures of the upper mantle. Experiments were performed using a multi-anvil high-pressure apparatus of a “split-sphere” type, in CaMg(CO3)2-Al2O3-SiO2 and Ca(Mg,Fe)(CO3)2-Al2O3-SiO2 systems (pressures of 3.0, 6.3 and 7.5 GPa, temperature range of 950–1550 °C, hematite buffered high-pressure cell). It was experimentally shown that decarbonation in the dolomite-bearing system occurred at 1100 ± 20 °C (3.0 GPa), 1320 ± 20 °C (6.3 GPa), and 1450 ± 20 °C (7.5 GPa). As demonstrated by mass spectrometry, the fluid composition was pure CO2. Composition of synthesized garnet was Prp83Grs17, with main Raman spectroscopic modes at 368–369, 559–562, and 912–920 cm−1. Decarbonation reactions in the ankerite-bearing system were realized at 1000 ± 20 °C (3.0 GPa), 1250 ± 20 °C (6.3 GPa), and 1400 ± 20 °C (7.5 GPa). As a result, the garnet of Grs25Alm40Prp35 composition with main Raman peaks at 349–350, 552, and 906–907 cm−1 was crystallized. It has been experimentally shown that, in the Earth’s mantle, dolomite and ankerite enter decarbonation reactions to form Ca, Mg, Fe garnet + CO2 assemblage at temperatures ~175–500 °C lower than CaCO3 does at constant pressures.

Origin of arc magmatic signature: A temperature-dependent process for trace element (re)-mobilization in subduction zones

Serpentinite is a major carrier of fluid-mobile elements in subduction zones, which influences the geochemical signature of arc magmatism (e.g. high abundances of Li, Ba, Sr, B, As, Mo and Pb). Based on results from Neoproterozoic serpentinites in the Arabian-Nubian Shield, we herein report the role of antigorite in the transportation of fluid-mobile elements (FME) and light rare earth elements (LREE) from the subducted slab to arc-related magma during subduction. The serpentinites contain two generations of antigorites: the older generation is coarse-grained, formed at a temperature range of 165-250 °C and is enriched in Li, Rb, Ba and Cs, whereas the younger generation is finer-grained, formed at higher temperature conditions (425-475 °C) and has high concentrations of B, As, Sb, Mo, Pb, Sr and LREE. Magnesite, on the other hand, remains stable at sub-arc depths beyond the stability field of both antigorites, and represents a potential reservoir of FME and LREE for deeper mantle melts. Magnesite has high FME and LREE absorbing capacity (over 50-60%) higher than serpentine phases. Temperature is the main controlling factor for stability of these minerals and therefore the release of these elements from subducted slabs into arc magmatism. As the liberation of these elements varies along the length of the slab, the resulting cross-arc geochemical variation trend can help to determine the subduction polarity of ancient arcs.

Stability and nature of the volume collapse of ε-Fe2O3 under extreme conditions

Iron oxides are among the major constituents of the deep Earth's interior. Among them, the epsilon phase of Fe₂O₃ is one of the less studied polymorphs and there is a lack of information about its structural, electronic and magnetic transformations at extreme conditions. Here we report the precise determination of its equation of state and a deep analysis of the evolution of the polyhedral units under compression, thanks to the agreement between our experiments and ab-initio simulations. Our results indicate that this material, with remarkable magnetic properties, is stable at pressures up to 27 GPa. Above 27 GPa, a volume collapse has been observed and ascribed to a change of the local environment of the tetrahedrally coordinated iron towards an octahedral coordination, finding evidence for a different iron oxide polymorph.

CO2-induced destabilization of pyrite-structured FeO2Hx in the lower mantle

Volatiles, such as carbon and water, modulate the Earth's mantle rheology, partial melting and redox state, thereby playing a crucial role in the Earth's internal dynamics. We experimentally show the transformation of goethite FeOOH in the presence of CO2 into a tetrahedral carbonate phase, Fe4C3O12, at conditions above 107 GPa—2300 K. At temperatures below 2300 K, no interactions are evidenced between goethite and CO2, and instead a pyrite-structured FeO2Hx is formed as recently reported by Hu et al. (2016; 2017) and Nishi et al. (2017). The interpretation is that, above a critical temperature, FeO2Hx reacts with CO2 and H2, yielding Fe4C3O12 and H2O. Our findings provide strong support for the stability of carbon-oxygen-bearing phases at lower-mantle conditions. In both subducting slabs and lower-mantle lithologies, the tetrahedral carbonate Fe4C3O12 would replace the pyrite-structured FeO2Hx through carbonation of these phases. This reaction provides a new mechanism for hydrogen release as H2O within the deep lower mantle. Our study shows that the deep carbon and hydrogen cycles may be more complex than previously thought, as they strongly depend on the control exerted by local mineralogical and chemical environments on the CO2 and H2 thermodynamic activities.

Expedite random structure searching using objects from Wyckoff positions

Random structure searching has been proved to be a powerful approach to search and find the global minimum and the metastable structures. A true random sampling is in principle needed yet it would be highly time-consuming and/or practically impossible to find the global minimum for the complicated systems in their high-dimensional configuration space. Thus the implementations of reasonable constraints, such as adopting system symmetries to reduce the independent dimension in structural space and/or imposing chemical information to reach and relax into low-energy regions, are the most essential issues in the approach. In this paper, we propose the concept of "object" which is either an atom or composed of a set of atoms (such as molecules or carbonates) carrying a symmetry defined by one of the Wyckoff positions of space group and through this process it allows the searching of global minimum for a complicated system to be confined in a greatly reduced structural space and becomes accessible in practice. We examined several representative materials, including Cd₃As₂ crystal, solid methanol, high-pressure carbonates (FeCO₃), and Si(111)-7 × 7 reconstructed surface, to demonstrate the power and the advantages of using "object" concept in random structure searching.

Pressure driven spin transition in siderite and magnesiosiderite single crystals

Iron-bearing carbonates are candidate phases for carbon storage in the deep Earth and may play an important role for the Earth's carbon cycle. To elucidate the properties of carbonates at conditions of the deep Earth, we investigated the pressure driven magnetic high spin to low spin transition of synthetic siderite FeCO₃ and magnesiosiderite (Mg_0.74Fe_0.26)CO₃ single crystals for pressures up to 57 GPa using diamond anvil cells and x-ray Raman scattering spectroscopy to directly probe the iron 3d electron configuration. An extremely sharp transition for siderite single crystal occurs at a notably low pressure of 40.4 ± 0.1 GPa with a transition width of 0.7 GPa when using the very soft pressure medium helium. In contrast, we observe a broadening of the transition width to 4.4 GPa for siderite with a surprising additional shift of the transition pressure to 44.3 ± 0.4 GPa when argon is used as pressure medium. The difference is assigned to larger pressure gradients in case of argon. For magnesiosiderite loaded with argon, the transition occurs at 44.8 ± 0.8 GPa showing similar width as siderite. Hence, no compositional effect on the spin transition pressure is observed. The spectra measured within the spin crossover regime indicate coexistence of regions of pure high- and low-spin configuration within the single crystal.

Stability of iron-bearing carbonates in the deep Earth's interior

The presence of carbonates in inclusions in diamonds coming from depths exceeding 670 km are obvious evidence that carbonates exist in the Earth's lower mantle. However, their range of stability, crystal structures and the thermodynamic conditions of the decarbonation processes remain poorly constrained. Here we investigate the behaviour of pure iron carbonate at pressures over 100 GPa and temperatures over 2,500 K using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy in laser-heated diamond anvil cells. On heating to temperatures of the Earth's geotherm at pressures to ∼50 GPa FeCO₃ partially dissociates to form various iron oxides. At higher pressures FeCO₃ forms two new structures-tetrairon(III) orthocarbonate Fe₄³⁺C₃O₁₂, and diiron(II) diiron(III) tetracarbonate Fe₂²⁺Fe₂³⁺C₄O₁₃, both phases containing CO₄ tetrahedra. Fe₄C₄O₁₃ is stable at conditions along the entire geotherm to depths of at least 2,500 km, thus demonstrating that self-oxidation-reduction reactions can preserve carbonates in the Earth's lower mantle.

Carbon-bearing silicate melt at deep mantle conditions

Knowledge about the incorporation and role of carbon in silicate magmas is crucial for our understanding of the deep mantle processes. CO₂ bearing silicate melting and its relevance in the upper mantle regime have been extensively explored. Here we report first-principles molecular dynamics simulations of MgSiO₃ melt containing carbon in three distinct oxidation states - CO₂, CO, and C at conditions relevant for the whole mantle. Our results show that at low pressures up to 15 GPa, the carbon dioxide speciation is dominated by molecular form and carbonate ions. At higher pressures, the dominant species are silicon-polyhedral bound carbonates, tetrahedral coordination, and polymerized di-carbonates. Our results also indicate that CO₂ component remains soluble in the melt at high pressures and the solution is nearly ideal. However, the elemental carbon and CO components show clustering of carbon atoms in the melt at high pressures, hinting towards possible exsolution of carbon from silicate melt at reduced oxygen contents. Although carbon lowers the melt density, the effect is modest at high pressures. Hence, it is likely that silicate melt above and below the mantle transition zone, and atop the core-mantle boundary could efficiently sequester significant amounts of carbon without being gravitationally unstable.

Abnormal Elasticity of Single-Crystal Magnesiosiderite across the Spin Transition in Earth's Lower Mantle

Brillouin light scattering and impulsive stimulated light scattering have been used to determine the full elastic constants of magnesiosiderite [(Mg_{0.35}Fe_{0.65})CO_{3}] up to 70 GPa at room temperature in a diamond-anvil cell. Drastic softening in C_{11}, C_{33}, C_{12}, and C_{13} elastic moduli associated with the compressive stress component and stiffening in C_{44} and C_{14} moduli associated with the shear stress component are observed to occur within the spin transition between ∼42.4 and ∼46.5  GPa. Negative values of C_{12} and C_{13} are also observed within the spin transition region. The Born criteria constants for the crystal remain positive within the spin transition, indicating that the mixed-spin state remains mechanically stable. Significant auxeticity can be related to the electronic spin transition-induced elastic anomalies based on the analysis of Poisson's ratio. These elastic anomalies are explained using a thermoelastic model for the rhombohedral system. Finally, we conclude that mixed-spin state ferromagnesite, which is potentially a major deep-carbon carrier, is expected to exhibit abnormal elasticity, including a negative Poisson's ratio of -0.6 and drastically reduced V_{P} by 10%, in Earth's midlower mantle.

Diamond formation in the deep lower mantle: a high-pressure reaction of MgCO3 and SiO2

Diamond is an evidence for carbon existing in the deep Earth. Some diamonds are considered to have originated at various depth ranges from the mantle transition zone to the lower mantle. These diamonds are expected to carry significant information about the deep Earth. Here, we determined the phase relations in the MgCO₃-SiO₂ system up to 152 GPa and 3,100 K using a double sided laser-heated diamond anvil cell combined with in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. MgCO₃ transforms from magnesite to the high-pressure polymorph of MgCO₃, phase II, above 80 GPa. A reaction between MgCO₃ phase II and SiO₂ (CaCl₂-type SiO₂ or seifertite) to form diamond and MgSiO₃ (bridgmanite or post-perovsktite) was identified in the deep lower mantle conditions. These observations suggested that the reaction of the MgCO₃ phase II with SiO₂ causes formation of super-deep diamond in cold slabs descending into the deep lower mantle.