scholarly journals A crystallographic study of crystalline casts and pseudomorphs from the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton (Australia)

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1050-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fermin Otálora ◽  
A. Mazurier ◽  
J. M. Garcia-Ruiz ◽  
M. J. Van Kranendonk ◽  
E. Kotopoulou ◽  
...  

Crystallography has a long history of providing knowledge and methods for applications in other disciplines. The identification of minerals using X-ray diffraction is one of the most important contributions of crystallography to earth sciences. However, when the crystal itself has been dissolved, replaced or deeply modified during the geological history of the rocks, diffraction information is not available. Instead, the morphology of the crystal cast provides the only crystallographic information on the original mineral phase and the environment of crystal growth. This article reports an investigation of crystal pseudomorphs and crystal casts found in a carbonate-chert facies from the 3.48 Ga-old Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Australia), considered to host some of the oldest remnants of life. A combination of X-ray microtomography, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and crystallographic methods has been used to reveal the original phases of these Archean pseudomorphs. It is found with a high degree of confidence that the original crystals forming in Archean times were hollow aragonite, the high-temperature polymorphs of calcium carbonate, rather than other possible alternatives such as gypsum (CaSO4·2H20) and nahcolite (NaHCO3). The methodology used is described in detail.

1971 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Toussaint

A crystallographic study of the system Ni2+ 1−2x Ni3+ x Li+ x O has been carried out. The crystal structure of the material in the range 0≤x≤0.4 at room temperature and up to 1000°C has been studied. The principal coefficients of thermal expansion and the phase diagram are given. The structural rhombohedral → face-centred cubic transition temperature of NiO has been determined.


1998 ◽  
Vol 524 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Margulies ◽  
M. J. Kramer ◽  
J. J. Williams ◽  
E. M. Deters ◽  
R. W. McCallum ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA compact tube furnace has been developed for high temperature X-ray diffraction studies using high energy synchrotron radiation. The furnace design has a low absorption path in transmission yet allows for a high degree of control of the sample atmosphere and a minimal temperature gradient across the sample. The design allows for a maximum temperature of 1500°C with a variety of atmospheres including inert, reducing, and oxidizing. Preliminary results obtained at the SRI-CAT I-ID undulator line (60keV) at the APS facility and the A2 24 pole wiggler line (45keV) at CHESS on the Ti5Si3Z5 (Z = C, N, O) system will be presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.


1961 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 264-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.M. Wahl

AbstractThe high-temperature continuous X-ray diffraction technique has been used at the University of Illinois for several years in our investigation of structural transformations and the development of phase minerals as natural materials are heated. Of particular interest are the effects which chemical impurities have on predicted structural transformations at elevated temperatures.The formation of mullite and beta-cristobalite as they develop from the clay mineral kaolinite is examined by continuous X-ray diffraction up to 1450°C, and the influence of added impurities either to enhance or to retard nucleation of these phase minerals is shown. The 2θ range containing diagnostic peaks of both the initial material and of the transition and phase minerals which develop on heating was continually traversed, thus providing a constant record for comparing structural changes vs. temperature.The furnace used is described in detail, and the effects of added impurities on kaolinite transformations are evaluated to show their importance in controlling the thermal history of a natural material under nonequilibrium conditions.


Author(s):  
A. R. Lang

AbstractX-ray topography provides a non-destructive method of mapping point-by-point variations in orientation and reflecting power within crystals. The discovery, made by several workers independently, that in nearly perfect crystals it was possible to detect individual dislocations by X-ray diffraction contrast started an epoch of rapid exploitation of X-ray topography as a new, general method for assessing crystal perfection. Another discovery, that of X-ray Pendellösung, led to important theoretical developments in X-ray diffraction theory and to a new and precise method for measuring structure factors on an absolute scale. Other highlights picked out for mention are studies of Frank-Read dislocation sources, the discovery of long dislocation helices and lines of coaxial dislocation loops in aluminium, of internal magnetic domain structures in Fe-3 wt.% Si, and of stacking faults in silicon and natural diamonds.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 (suppl_26) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Garipoli ◽  
P. Bergese ◽  
E. Bontempi ◽  
M. Minicucci ◽  
A. Di Cicco ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-363
Author(s):  
Daniela Vitzthum ◽  
Hubert Huppertz

AbstractThe mixed cation triel borate Ga4In4B15O33(OH)3 was synthesized in a Walker-type multianvil apparatus at high-pressure/high-temperature conditions of 12.5 GPa and 1300°C. Although the product could not be reproduced in further experiments, its crystal structure could be reliably determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Ga4In4B15O33(OH)3 crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I41/a (origin choice 2) with the lattice parameters a = 11.382(2), c = 15.244(2) Å, and V = 1974.9(4) Å3. The structure of the quaternary triel borate consists of a complex network of BO4 tetrahedra, edge-sharing InO6 octahedra in dinuclear units, and very dense edge-sharing GaO6 octahedra in tetranuclear units.


1961 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 276-284
Author(s):  
E. L. Moore ◽  
J. S. Metcalf

AbstractHigh-temperature X-ray diffraction techniques were employed to study the condensation reactions which occur when sodium orthophosphates are heated to 380°C. Crystalline Na4P2O7 and an amorphous phase were formed first from an equimolar mixture of Na2HPO4·NaH2PO4 and Na2HPO4 at temperatures above 150°C. Further heating resulted in the formation of Na5P3O10-I (high-temperature form) at the expense of the crystalline Na4P4O7 and amorphous phase. Crystalline Na5P3O10-II (low-temperature form) appears after Na5P3O10-I.Conditions which affect the yield of crystalline Na4P2O7 and amorphous phase as intermediates and their effect on the yield of Na5P3O10 are also presented.


1988 ◽  
Vol 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kumar ◽  
S. K. Mannan

ABSTRACTThe mechanical alloying behavior of elemental powders in the Nb-Si, Ta-Si, and Nb-Ta-Si systems was examined via X-ray diffraction. The line compounds NbSi2 and TaSi2 form as crystalline compounds rather than amorphous products, but Nb5Si3 and Ta5Si3, although chemically analogous, respond very differently to mechanical milling. The Ta5Si3 composition goes directly from elemental powders to an amorphous product, whereas Nb5Si3 forms as a crystalline compound. The Nb5Si3 compound consists of both the tetragonal room-temperature α phase (c/a = 1.8) and the tetragonal high-temperature β phase (c/a = 0.5). Substituting increasing amounts of Ta for Nb in Nb5Si3 initially stabilizes the α-Nb5Si3 structure preferentially, and subsequently inhibits the formation of a crystalline compound.


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