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Raman spectra in the range 80 to 4000 [cm.sup.-1] of wadsleyite II ([Fo.sub.90] with 2.0 wt% [H.sub.2]O and [Fo.sub.88] with 2.7 wt% [H.sub.2]O) have been measured in a diamond-anvil cell with solid rare-gas pressure-transmitting media to 51.4 GPa at room temperature. The ambient Raman spectrum of wadsleyite II is closely similar to wadsleyite modified with bands in frequency regions where the Si[O.sub.4] tetrahedral and OH stretching vibrations of hydrous ringwoodite occur. The most intense, characteristic wadsleyite II modes at 709 and 911 [cm.sup.-1] ([Si.sub.2][O.sub.7] and Si[O.sub.3] symmetric stretching vibrations, respectively) shift continuously to 51.4 GPa showing no evidence for a change in the crystal structure. A striking feature in the high-pressure Raman spectra of wadsleyite II is a significant growth in intensity in the mid-frequency range (300-650 [cm.sup.-1] at [10.sup.-4] GPa and 400-750 [cm.sup.-1] at 51.4 GPa) under compression accompanied by the appearance of new Raman modes near 40 GPa, perhaps a result of resonance electronic Raman scattering. In the OH stretching frequency range, the Raman spectrum of wadsleyite II exhibits at least six modes and their high-pressure behavior agrees with that of [Fo.sub.90] hydrous wadsleyite: OH stretching modes above 3530 [cm.sup.-1] remain approximately constant up to at least 21.8 GPa whereas OH modes at frequencies Keywords: Hydrous wadsleyite II, Raman spectroscopy, diamond-anvil cell, transition zone, high pressure

The high-pressure behavior of synthetic end-member IIb clinochlore, [Mg.sub.5]Al([Si.sub.3]Al)[O.sub.10][(OH).sub.8], has been studied by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction to 27 GPa at 300 K. A non-quenchable, reversible transformation occurs between 9 and 10 GPa that is dominated by compression normal to the structural layering and has an associated small but significant shear of the 13 angle from 97.2 to 96.3[degrees]. The high-pressure chlorite is more compressible than the low-pressure phase. Diffraction patterns of the high-pressure chlorite are very similar from 10 to 27 GPa, indicating that it persists stably with no significant change in [beta] to very high pressures: [beta] is effectively locked at the transformation to the high-pressure structure. It is proposed that the transformation is not polytypic and that the distortion reflects reorganization of the interlayer hydrogen bonding, possibly involving novel proton behavior as adjacent sheets of cations of the brucite-like and tetrahedral layers close down on the sheet of interlayer protons. The transformation is likely driven by O atom close-packing requirements imposed by pressure.

The effect of pressure upon hydrogen bonding in synthetic end-member clinochlore, ([Mg.sub.5]Al)([Si.sub.3]Al)[O.sub.10][(OH).sub.8], has been studied in situ by high-pressure micro-Raman spectroscopy in a moissanite-anvil cell to 26.5 GPa at 300 K. The ambient spectrum consists of three OH-stretching bands between 3400 and 3650 [cm.sup.-1], attributed to the hydrogen-bonded interlayer OH, and a narrow band at 3679 [cm.sup.-1] that is assigned to the non-hydrogen-bonded OH groups of the talc-like 2:1 layer. The pressure dependence of the OH modes is linear up to 6 GPa. Near 9 GPa a major discontinuity occurs in the pressure dependence of the interlayer OH-stretching modes. It involves frequency increases >100 [cm.sup.-1] that indicate major changes in hydrogen bonding. The OH mode of the 2:1 layer does not show discontinuous behavior at 9 GPa. A further discontinuity occurs at ~16 GPa. This discontinuity affects both interlayer and 2:1 OH, and is likely to be associated with a change in the overall compression mechanism of clinochlore. The spectroscopic behavior is a completely reversible function of pressure. Predictions based upon recent high-pressure diffraction studies of hydrogen bonding and compression of clinochlore suggest that the 9 GPa transition is associated with attainment of an [O.sup.2-]-[O.sup.2] -contact distance of 2.7 [Angstrom].

Author(s): Martin D. Brasier (corresponding author) [1]; Owen R. Green [1]; Andrew P. Jephcoat [1]; Annette K. Kleppe [1]; Martin J. Van Kranendonk [2]; John F. Lindsay [3]; Andrew Steele [...]