Garnet, the Archetypal Cubic Mineral, Grows Tetragonal

Garnet is the archetypal cubic mineral, occurring in a wide variety of rock types in Earth's crust and upper mantle. Owing to its prevalence, durability and compositional diversity, garnet is used to investigate a broad range of geological processes. Although birefringence is a characteristic f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-10, Vol.9 (1), p.14672-13, Article 14672
Main Authors: Cesare, B, Nestola, F, Johnson, T, Mugnaioli, E, Ventura, G Della, Peruzzo, L, Bartoli, O, Viti, C, Erickson, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/2151/330
704/2151/431
Anisotropy
Basalt
Birefringence
Crystal structure
Crystals
Geology
Geosciences (General)
Humanities and Social Sciences
Iron
Low temperature
Manganese
multidisciplinary
Quartz
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Symmetry
Upper mantle
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Summary:Garnet is the archetypal cubic mineral, occurring in a wide variety of rock types in Earth's crust and upper mantle. Owing to its prevalence, durability and compositional diversity, garnet is used to investigate a broad range of geological processes. Although birefringence is a characteristic feature of rare Ca–Fe3+ garnet and Ca-rich hydrous garnet, the optical anisotropy that has occasionally been documented in common (that is, anhydrous Ca–Fe2+–Mg–Mn) garnet is generally attributed to internal strain of the cubic structure. Here we show that common garnet with a non-cubic (tetragonal) crystal structure is much more widespread than previously thought, occurring in low-temperature, high pressure metamorphosed basalts (blueschists) from subduction zones and in low-grade metamorphosed mudstones (phyllites and schists) from orogenic belts. Indeed, a non-cubic symmetry appears to be typical of common garnet that forms at low temperatures (
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-51214-9