Raman-spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometer studies of experimentally produced diaplectic feldspar glass

Abstract

Raman vibrational spectra and X-ray diffractometer scans were obtained from experimentally shocked samples of oligoclase (An₁₉) and andesine (An₄₉). Some 11 oligoclase and 15 andesine targets were shocked between 24 and 40 GPa to address the transition from crystalline to diaplectic states and to explore differences in the structural state of diaplectic feldspar glasses (maskelynite) as a function of peak shock stress. Thy symmetrical VS (T-O-T) (T=Si or Al) stretch bands are the most persistent. They disappear, however, in the noise of an unusually strong luminescent spectrum at > 32 GPa in the oligoclase and at > 30 GPa in the andesine; i.e., at pressures where transition to diaplectic glass is complete. The Raman investigations yield a maskelynite structure that is probably one of a multitude of very small domains with some order, but with a large range of local properties on the scale of small domains, either in heterogeneous size-distribution of domains or in their detailed order, if not both. This results in a very large number of Raman photon-phonon frequencies unlike glasses derived from quenched melts. Our study corroborates conclusions by others, that diaplectic glasses may be the quench products of very dense, disordered phases that exist during shock compression and that subsequently relax to these unusually dense glasses that are only known from shock processes. An origin by relaxation of highly ordered, genuine high pressure polymorphs possessing the structure of hollandite is unlikely, as no evidence for any six-fold Si-coordination was found. Detailed luminescent emission spectra were taken of the oligoclase samples and they show disappearance of the IR band and a strengthening of the green band (the blue band could not be detected with a primary radiation of wavelength 448 nm). This supports previous views that the disappearance of IR emission is most likely caused by shock-induced changes of the crystal field near Fe³⁺ sites, rather than due to quenching by Fe²⁺. The X-ray studies were primarily intended to explore whether differences in structural states of maskelynite occur on sufficiently large scales to be detected by standard diffractometry methods. This is not the case. X-ray diffractometer patterns are grossly similar, if not identical, in samples shocked between 30 and 40 GPa and may not be used to fine-tune the shock histories of naturally produced diaplectic glasses.