Electron-optical studies of phyllosilicate intergrowths in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

1985 ◽  
Vol 49 (352) ◽  
pp. 413-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. White ◽  
J. M. Huggett ◽  
H. F. Shaw

AbstractThe results of a microstructural study by backscattered scanning electron microscopy and a microchemical study using X-ray microprobe analysis of phyllosilicate intergrowths from sandstones, shales, metagreywackes, and low-grade schists are presented. The microstructural study revealed that the intergrowths thicken and become more coherent with metamorphic grade; the intergrowths change from incoherent to coherent in the anchizone. The increasing coherency is mirrored by an increase in the crystallinity indices of the illites/phengites. Chemical analysis of the individual intergrowth phases was difficult in the sediments and no systematic compositional variations were recorded. However, clear compositional trends with increasing metamorphic grade emerged in the phengites from the metagreywackes and schists, but in the chlorites only slight compositional changes were recorded.

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Catherine Sforna ◽  
Corentin C. Loron ◽  
Catherine F. Demoulin ◽  
Camille François ◽  
Yohan Cornet ◽  
...  

AbstractThe acquisition of photosynthesis is a fundamental step in the evolution of eukaryotes. However, few phototrophic organisms are unambiguously recognized in the Precambrian record. The in situ detection of metabolic byproducts in individual microfossils is the key for the direct identification of their metabolisms. Here, we report a new integrative methodology using synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence and absorption. We evidence bound nickel-geoporphyrins moieties in low-grade metamorphic rocks, preserved in situ within cells of a ~1 Gyr-old multicellular eukaryote, Arctacellularia tetragonala. We identify these moieties as chlorophyll derivatives, indicating that A. tetragonala was a phototrophic eukaryote, one of the first unambiguous algae. This new approach, applicable to overmature rocks, creates a strong new proxy to understand the evolution of phototrophy and diversification of early ecosystems.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Rajendra Acharya ◽  
Kabiraj Paudyal

Petrographic study was carried out in the rocks of the Nawakot Group from the Malekhu area. Representative samples from all the units were collected systematically. The area is occupied by low-grade metamorphic rocks of the Lesser Himalaya. The main lithology of this study area consists of phyllite, quartzite, metasandstone, dolomite, slate and metabasics. The main aim of this study was to distinguish the individual rock types based on the petrographic characteristics. Necessity of this type of study is felt because about each geological unit has similar type of rocks. In the case of complex geological setting due to faults and thrusts, distinction between the macroscopically similar rocks is possible only under the thin sections. Keeping this geological problem in mind, altogether 12 thin sections of representative rocks were prepared and studied for mineral paragenesis, texture, microscopic structures, deformation characteristics and metamorphic grade. Chlorite is found in all pelitic rocks as a metamorphic index mineral.


1998 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 869-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.-J. Massonne ◽  
F. Hervé ◽  
O. Medenbach ◽  
V. Muñoz ◽  
A. P. Willner

AbstractZussmanite KFe13[AlSi17O42](OH)14, a modulated 2:1 layer silicate, has so far been found only in iron-rich metasediments from Laytonville, California (Agrellet al.), 1965). A new occurrence is reported here from Punta Nihue north of Valdivia, Chile, in banded stilpnomelane-schists. These are intercalated in the ‘Western Series’, a complex of low-grade metamorphic rocks with local high-pressure, low-temperature overprint (e.g. blueschists).The rock contains conspicuous porphyroblasts of zussmanite of mm size and is composed of chemically distinct bands with the subsequent assemblages: (1) zussmanite-stilpnomelane-quartz, (2) siderite-quartz±stilpnomelane (3) apatite-stilpnomelane-quartz±siderite. The chemical composition of zussmanite, (K0.80Na0.05Ba0.01)(Fe11.292+Mg1.11Mn0.25Fe0.143+Cr0.01Al0.19Ti0.01)[Al1.23Si16.77O42](OH)14, its optical properties and X-ray data correlate well with the Californian occurrence. Additionally, we present new IR data. In type (2) bands of fine-grained crystals of a K,Al poor mineral formed from siderite and quartz. Its chemical composition is close to that of zussmanite. A similar phase was also reported from Laytonville, California (Muir Wood, 1980).The rarity of rock-forming zussmanite can be explained by its occurrence in strongly Fe-rich and reduced rocks, as well as, by a possibly narrowP-Tstability field.


1999 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. W. Faryad ◽  
G. Hoinkes

AbstractLow-grade metamorphic rocks from the Meliata unit (Western Carpathians) are characterized by the presence of typical blueschist-facies minerals. In metabasalt, an early low-pressure assemblage (<0.5 GPa at 350°C characterized by muscovite and zoisite, is followed by high-pressure glaucophane, phengite, Na-pyroxene, chlorite, clinozoisite and Al-poor titanite, indicating pressures of >1.2 GPa at 450°C Na-pyroxene shows strong compositional variations between the end-members Jd4–70, Aeg10–49 and Q17–49, respectively. Phengite has high Si content of 3.5 a.p.f.u. The zoisite with Al2Fe (100[Fetot/(−2+Altot+Fetot)]) = 3–5%, is rimmed by clinozoisite, with a maximum of 75% Al2Fe, as well as being enclosed by glaucophane. The occurrence of clinozoisite, rimming zoisite, suggests that the transformation of orthorhombic to monoclinic epidote depends not only on the temperature but also on the pressure. In the studied metabasalt, retrograde phases reflecting greenschist-facies conditions are albite and chlorite. Some neighbouring metabasites may additionally contain actinolite and biotite.


Author(s):  
Thomas R. McKee ◽  
Peter R. Buseck

Sediments commonly contain organic material which appears as refractory carbonaceous material in metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. Grew and others have shown that relative carbon content, crystallite size, X-ray crystallinity and development of well-ordered graphite crystal structure of the carbonaceous material increases with increasing metamorphic grade. The graphitization process is irreversible and appears to be continous from the amorphous to the completely graphitized stage. The most dramatic chemical and crystallographic changes take place within the chlorite metamorphic zone.The detailed X-ray investigation of crystallite size and crystalline ordering is complex and can best be investigated by other means such as high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The natural graphitization series is similar to that for heat-treated commercial carbon blacks, which have been successfully studied by HRTEM (Ban and others).


Author(s):  
Gejing Li ◽  
D. R. Peacor ◽  
D. S. Coombs ◽  
Y. Kawachi

Recent advances in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM) have led to many new insights into the structural and chemical characteristics of very finegrained, optically homogeneous mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks. Chemical compositions obtained by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) on such materials have been shown by TEM/AEM to result from beam overlap on contaminant phases on a scale below resolution of EMPA, which in turn can lead to errors in interpretation and determination of formation conditions. Here we present an in-depth analysis of the relation between AEM and EMPA data, which leads also to the definition of new mineral phases, and demonstrate the resolution power of AEM relative to EMPA in investigations of very fine-grained mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks.Celadonite, having end-member composition KMgFe3+Si4O10(OH)2, and with minor substitution of Fe2+ for Mg and Al for Fe3+ on octahedral sites, is a fine-grained mica widespread in volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic sediments which have undergone low-temperature alteration in the oceanic crust and in burial metamorphic sequences.


Author(s):  
M. Vallet-Regí ◽  
M. Parras ◽  
J.M. González-Calbet ◽  
J.C. Grenier

BaFeO3-y compositions (0.35<y<0.50) have been investigated by means of electron diffraction and microscopy to resolve contradictory results from powder X-ray diffraction data.The samples were obtained by annealing BaFeO2.56 for 48 h. in the temperature range from 980°C to 1050°C . Total iron and barium in the samples were determined using chemical analysis and gravimetric methods, respectively.In the BaFeO3-y system, according to the electron diffraction and microscopy results, the nonstoichiometry is accommodated in different ways as a function of the composition (y):In the domain between BaFeO2.5+δBaFeO2.54, compositional variations are accommodated through the formation of microdomains. Fig. la shows the ED pattern of the BaFeO2.52 material along thezone axis. The corresponding electron micrograph is seen in Fig. 1b. Several domains corresponding to the monoclinic BaFeO2.50 phase, intergrow with domains of the orthorhombic phase. According to that, the ED pattern of Fig. 1a, can be interpreted as formed by the superposition of three types of diffraction maxima : Very strong spots corresponding to a cubic perovskite, a set of maxima due to the superposition of three domains of the monoclinic phase along [100]m and a series of maxima corresponding to three domains corresponding to the orthorhombic phase along the [100]o.


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