Shock compression of liquid silicates to 125 GPa: The anorthite‐diopside join

Abstract

We determined the equation of state (EOS) of three silicate liquid compositions by shock compression of preheated samples up to 127 GPa. Diopside (Di; Ca_2Mg_2SiO_6) at 1773 K, anorthite (An; CaAl_2Si_2O_8) at 1923 K and the eutectic composition Di_(64)An_(36) at 1673 K were previously studied by shock compression to 38 GPa. The new data extend the EOS of each composition nearly to the Earth's core-mantle boundary. The previously reported anomaly at 25 GPa for Di_(64)An_(36) eutectic was not reproduced; rather all data for this composition fit within error a straight line Hugoniot in particle velocity vs. shock velocity. Di also displays a linear Hugoniot consistent with ultrasonic data and a third-order finite strain EOS. The full anorthite data set is complex; we examine a model with a transition between two structural states and a fourth‐order finite strain model excluding two points that may not display relaxed behavior. We also report an experiment on room-temperature solid Di_(64)An_(36) aggregate that clearly demonstrates increase upon compression of the Grüneisen parameter of this liquid, much as experiment and theory have shown for forsterite and enstatite liquids. We construct isentropes and isotherms from our Hugoniots using Mie-Grüneisen thermal pressure and evaluate the model of ideal mixing of volumes. Volume may mix almost linearly at high temperature, but deviates strongly when calculated along an isotherm; it remains difficult to reach a firm conclusion. We compare the densities of liquids to lower mantle solids. Our results suggest that basaltic liquids rich in CaO and Al_2O_3 are notably denser than liquids in the MgO-SiO_2 binary and, subject to uncertainties in the behavior of FeO and in corrections for thermal pressure, such liquids may be the most likely candidates for achieving negative buoyancy in the lowermost mantle.

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