• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, August 4, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Scientists discover new forms of feldspars

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 1, 2020
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

High-pressure experiments reveal unknown variants of common mineral

IMAGE

Credit: Credit: DESY, Anna Pakhomova

In high-pressure experiments, scientists have discovered new forms of the common mineral feldspar. At moderate temperatures, these hitherto unknown variants are stable at pressures of Earth’s upper mantle, where common feldspar normally cannot exist. The discovery could change the view at cold subducting plates and the interpretation of seismologic signatures, as the team around DESY scientist Anna Pakhomova and Leonid Dubrovinsky from Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Bayreuth report in the journal Nature Communications.

Feldspars represent a group of rock forming minerals that are highly abundant on Earth and make up roughly 60 per cent of Earth’s crust. The most common feldspars are anorthite, (CaSi2Al2O8), albite (NaAlSi3O8), and microcline (KAlSi3O8). At ambient conditions, the aluminium and silicon atoms in the crystal are each bonded to four oxygen atoms, forming AlO4 and SiO4 tetrahedra.

“The behaviour of feldspars under increasing pressure and temperature has been intensively investigated before, with the respect to their fate in Earth’s interior,” explains Pakhomova. “Feldspars are known to be stable only at pressures of up to 3 Giga-Pascals along the common pressure-temperature profile of the Earth, while they decompose into denser minerals at higher pressures.” 3 Giga-Pascals (GPa) are equivalent to 30,000 times the normal air pressure at sea level. “However, under cold conditions feldspars may persist metastably at pressures higher than 3 GPa,” adds Pakhomova. “Previous high-pressure structural studies of feldspars at room temperature have shown that the tetrahedral framework of feldspars is preserved up to 10 GPa.”

The scientists now subjected common feldspars to pressures of up to 27 GPa and analysed their structure at the Extreme Conditions Beamline P02.2 of DESY’s X-ray light source PETRA III and at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Chicago. “At pressures above 10 GPa, we have discovered new high-pressure polymorphs of anorthite, albite and microcline,” reports Pakhomova. “The phase transitions are induced by severe geometrical distortions of AlO4 and SiO4 tetrahedra, which result in the aluminium and silicon atoms gaining additional neighbouring atoms and also in the formation of denser frameworks based on polyhedra where one aluminium or silicon atom is bonded to four, five or six oxygen atoms.”

To investigate the stability of the discovered high-pressure variants of feldspars at high temperatures and their possible persistence in Earth’s interior, the scientists performed a series of high-pressure-high-temperature experiments at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut. It turned out that the high-pressure variant of anorthite persists at temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius at 15 GPa.

“Such pressure-temperature conditions could be found on Earth in the subductions zones – regions where two lithospheric plates collide, one riding over the other,” explains Dubrovinsky. “In such geological settings, feldspars are delivered into Earth’s interior along with other crustal material by the descending plate. Our results indicate that in cold subduction zones, if the temperature does not rise above 600 degrees, high-pressure phases derived from feldspars could persist at depths corresponding to Earth’s upper mantle. This could possibly influence the dynamics and fate of cold subducting lithospheric plates and alter seismological signatures.”

###

Scientists from Universität Bayreuth, Saint Petersburg State University, the University of Chicago, Bayerisches Geoinstitut and DESY contributed to this research.

DESY is one of the world’s leading particle accelerator centres and investigates the structure and function of matter – from the interaction of tiny elementary particles and the behaviour of novel nanomaterials and vital biomolecules to the great mysteries of the universe. The particle accelerators and detectors that DESY develops and builds at its locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen are unique research tools. They generate the most intense X-ray radiation in the world, accelerate particles to record energies and open up new windows onto the universe. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association, Germany’s largest scientific association, and receives its funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (90 per cent) and the German federal states of Hamburg and Brandenburg (10 per cent).

Reference: Polymorphism of feldspars above 10 GPa; Anna Pakhomova, Dariia Simonova, Iuliia Koemets, Egor Koemets, Georgios Aprilis, Maxim Bykov, Liudmila Gorelova, Timofey Fedotenko, Vitali Prakapenka, Leonid Dubrovinsky; Nature Communications, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16547-4

Media Contact
Thomas Zoufal
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.desy.de/news/news_search/index_eng.html?openDirectAnchor=1840&two_columns=1

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16547-4

Tags: Chemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesEarth ScienceGeology/SoilGeophysicsGeophysics/GravityMolecular PhysicsPlate TectonicsTemperature-Dependent Phenomena
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Mapping Brain Chemistry Through Humanity’s Evolutionary Journey

Mapping Brain Chemistry Through Humanity’s Evolutionary Journey

August 4, 2025
Pan Feng’s Team Pioneers Inverse Design of Catalytic Materials Using Topological AI

Pan Feng’s Team Pioneers Inverse Design of Catalytic Materials Using Topological AI

August 4, 2025

DGIST Advances Ultrasound Wireless Charging for Implantable Medical Devices

August 4, 2025

Advancing Clinical Gait Analysis with Generative AI and Musculoskeletal Simulation

August 4, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Predicting Colorectal Cancer Using Lifestyle Factors

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Kinesin HUG1/2 Drive Male Germ Unit Transport

Author Correction: Breakthroughs in Ultrafast Photonics Integration

Mapping Alveolar Cell Regeneration in Pulmonary Fibrosis

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.