A windows into the Earth s mantle: On the crystal structure of hydrous wadsleyite (beta-Mg2SiO4)
Wadsleyite (beta-Mg2SiO4) is the high-pressure polymorph of the most common olivine mineral, and it is able to store water as hydroxyl group (OH-) in Earth s mantle transition zone. The crystal structure of wadsleyite was solved and refined in the space group Imma with a=5.8, b=11.9, c=8.4 Å. The presence of H (up to 3.3 wt% H2O) in synthetic wadsleyite was confirmed by IR spectroscopy, SIMS, calculated or experimental electrostatic potentials, difference-Fourier analysis of the charge density from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, as well as 1H and 17O NMR. Based on the fact that we were able to grow crystals of hydrous wadsleyite of approx. 1 mm3, the aim of the present study is a re-investigation of the crystal structure and crystal chemistry of a (hydrous) wadsleyite at ambient conditions and at low-T (20 K) by means of single-crystal neutron diffraction, in order to define: the location of the proton site(s) and the real topological configuration of the OH-group(s), along with the anisotropic displacement parameters of the H-site(s).
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GATTA Giacomo Diego and FERNANDEZ DIAZ Maria Teresa. (2016). A windows into the Earth s mantle: On the crystal structure of hydrous wadsleyite (beta-Mg2SiO4). Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.5-11-418
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