Abstract
The electrical conductivities of iron-bearing minerals are important for understanding the chemical and thermal heterogeneity of the Earth’s mantle. Recent high-pressure experiments have shown that the new iron oxide group (FeO)m(Fe2O3)n is stable under mantle conditions. Although the new iron oxides possibly play an important role in the subduction zone, the physical properties of these iron oxides are still unclear. Here, we determined the electrical conductivities of Fe4O5, Fe5O6, and Fe7O9 at pressures up to 60 GPa using diamond anvil cells. The electrical conductivities of the iron oxides generally increased with increasing pressure, and the values were comparable with previous data for Fe3O4 and FeO at high pressures. Although iron oxides with a mixed-valence state are generally highly conductive, Fe7O9 was less conductive than Fe4O5 and Fe5O6. This difference is likely due to the ordered sites and valences in the structures of Fe4O5 and Fe5O6. The results show that the new iron oxides were not metallic under the experimental conditions. The iron oxides in the subducted materials may cause anomalies in the electrical conductivity of the deep mantle along with the melt and water.
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This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number JP19H01989).
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This article is part of a Topical Collection “Experimental & Analytical Techniques at Extreme & Ambient Conditions”, guest edited by Stella Chariton, Vitali B. Prakapenka and Haozhe (Arthur) Liu.
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Maitani, S., Sinmyo, R., Ishii, T. et al. The electrical conductivity of Fe4O5, Fe5O6, and Fe7O9 up to 60 GPa. Phys Chem Minerals 49, 11 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-022-01188-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-022-01188-4