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System MgO-SiO2

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Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists

Abstract

The two oxides, MgO and SiO2, account for 85 % of the Earth’s mantle. Thus, the phase relations in the system MgO-SiO2 (MS), shown in Figs. 2.1 and 2.2, are fundamental for understanding the mineral composition of the mantle. There are five enstatite polymorphs (Mg2Si2O6): protoenstatite, orthoenstatite, low clinoenstatite, high-T clinoenstatite, and high-P clinoenstatite, which can coexist in silica undersaturated compositions with forsterite, wadsleyite, or ringwoodite (Mg2SiO4). At high pressures, high-P clinoenstatite breaks down to majorite at the temperatures above 1,600 °C, and to wadsleyite + stishovite or ringwoodite + stishovite at lower temperatures. Akimotoite and MgSiO3 perovskite appear at progressively still higher pressures. The MgSiO3 perovskite can coexist with periclase (MgO) in the lower mantle.

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Gasparik, T. (2014). System MgO-SiO2 . In: Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5776-3_2

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