Abstract
The effect of Cr on the silicate system has been studied in air at 1 atm by adding a small amount of MgCr2O4 (0.2–0.5 wt.%) to the join Mg2SiO4 (forsterite) — CaAl2Si2O8 (anorthite) — CaMgSi2O6 (diopside), which has been considered to form a thermal divide in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2. The spinel primary field is enlarged compared with that in the Cr-free join at the expense of the anorthite primary field. The piercing points forsterite+anorthite+diopside+liquid and forsterite+anorthite+spinel+liquid approach each other with increasing MgCr2O4, meet at the join with 0.25 wt.% MgCr2O4 (0.20 wt.% Cr2O3) to form the ‘isobaric quaternary invariant point’ forsterite+anorthite+diopside+spinel+liquid, and then separate again as new ‘piercing points’ of diopside+spinel+anorthite+liquid and forsterite+diopside+ spinel+liquid. This process indicates that the join Mg2SiO4-CaAl2Si2O8-CaMgSi2O6 containing more than 0.2 wt.% Cr2O3 cannot be a thermal divide in the basalt tetrahedron. The results of the present study show that the presence of a minor amount of Cr causes a significant effect on the phase relations and therefore, the role of Cr must be taken into account in the formulation of a petrologic model.
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Onuma, K., Tohara, T. Effect of chromium on phase relations in the join forsterite-anorthite-diopside in air at 1 Atm. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 84, 174–181 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371283
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371283