Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology

, Volume 147, Issue 5, pp 604–614 | Cite as

Polycrystalline calcite to aragonite transformation kinetics: experiments in synthetic systems

Original Paper
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Abstract

The kinetics of the calcite to aragonite transformation have been investigated using synthetic polycrystalline calcite aggregates, with and without additional minerals present. The reaction progresses as a function of time were measured at four temperature/pressure conditions: (1) 550 °C/1.86 GPa; (2) 600 °C/2.11 GPa; (3) 650 °C/2.11 GPa, and (4) 700 °C/2.29 GPa. Experiments reveal that Mg-calcite and Fe-calcite transforms to aragonite at considerably slower rates than pure calcite, and that Sr-bearing calcite and calcite + quartz aggregates transform at significantly higher rates than pure calcite. The reaction progresses vs. time data for pure calcite were fitted to Cahn’s grain-boundary nucleation and interface-controlled growth model. Evidence for interface-controlled growth is provided by petrographic observations of grain boundaries. The activation energy for aragonite growth from the synthetic polycrystalline calcite determined in this study is significantly lower than that previously determined from a natural marble. The discrepancy in rates and activation energy may be attributed to the nature of grain boundaries, to deformational strain or the presence of impurities in the studied samples, and likely to uncertainties in experimental conditions. The results of this study imply that the variation of local petrologic conditions, in addition to temperature, pressure and grain size, may play an important role in determining the rates for the calcite to aragonite transformation in nature.

Keywords

Calcite Dolomite Aragonite Siderite Transformation Rate 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Drs. J. L. Mosenfelder and D. C. Rubie for providing the computer program for modeling experimental data using Cahn’s equation. The author would also like to acknowledge Dr. J. L. Mosenfelder of California Institute of Technology, USA and Dr. J. Connolly, Institut für Mineralogie und Petrographie, ETH-Zentrum, Zürich, Switzerland for critical review and improvement of the manuscript. Our acknowledgment extent to Drs. H. J. Lo, B. Y. Shen and T. F. Yu for discussions. The back-scattered electron (BSE) image was performed using the field emission electron microscope of the Institute of Material Sciences at National Taiwan University. XRD measurements were conducted in laboratory supported by Dr. C. Y. Lee. The research was supported by the Earth Sciences Section, National Science Council of ROC under grant nos. NSC 89–2116-M-002–055 and NSC 90–2116-M-002–008 (W. L. Huang).

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2004

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of GeosciencesNational Taiwan UniversityTaipeiTaiwan

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