Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published June 10, 1982 | Published
Journal Article Open

Shock compression of aragonite and implications for the equation of state of carbonates

Abstract

Hugoniot equation of state and release adiabat results are presented for c cut crystals of aragonite, the high-pressure polymorph of calcite, shocked to pressures of up to 40 GPa. A Hugoniot elastic limit is observed at 2.5±0.8 GPa and is similar to that of calcite, which, depending on orientation, ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 GPa. A phase transition, possibly displacive, occurs between 5.5 and 7.6 GPa. Above shock pressures of ∼10 GPa, the aragonite and calcite Hugoniots are nearly coincident, suggesting transformation of both polymorphs to the same phase. Model calculations, attempting to characterize the high pressure CaCO_3 phase are presented. Aragonite release adiabats centered at pressures between 9 and 14 GPa indicate that states with apparent zero-pressure densities from 2.9 to 3.2 g/cm^3 are achieved upon decompression from progressively greater shock pressures. Observed unloading paths from shock pressures above 17 GPa are significantly and consistently shallower (in a density-pressure plane) than those from lower pressures, and zero-pressure densities up to 20% below that of the initial aragonite density are achieved upon unloading; these features suggest that vaporization is occurring upon unloading. According to theoretical shock temperature and entropy calculations, however, the minimum shock pressure for vaporization upon release for aragonite is 55 GPa (and 33 GPa for calcite), significantly higher than the observed value.

Additional Information

Copyright 1982 by the American Geophysical Union. (Received October 24, 1980; revised July 24, 1981; accepted September 18, 1981.) Paper number 1B1460. Tony Jones provided the aragonite crystals used in this study. Helpful discussions with Ken-ichi Kondo and J. Peter Watt are gratefully acknowledged. We thanks Raymond Jeanloz and an anonymous reviewer for careful reviews and many helpful comments. This work was supported by NASA grant NGL 05-002-105. Contribution 3507, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125.

Attached Files

Published - jgrb4033.pdf

Files

jgrb4033.pdf
Files (1.1 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:a27aefd9ab5bfc508c1588921481be59
1.1 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023