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The join CaMgSi2O6-KAlSi3O8 has been studied at 6 GPa (890-1,500°C) and 3.5 GPa (1,000-1,100°C). K-rich melts in the join produce assemblages Cpx + Grt, Cpx + Opx, Cpx + San, and Cpx + Grt + San at 1,100-1,300°C. AtN<~70 mol%, sanidine is unstable on the solidus and appears at the liquidus, ifN>90 mol%. This explains a scarcity of San in mantle Cpx-rich assemblages and its association with high-K aluminosilicate melt inclusions in diamonds. In absence of San, KCpx is the only host for potassium. The K-jadeite content in KCpx systematically increases with decreasing temperature and reaches 10-12 mol% near the solidus. However, KCpx coexists with San atN>70 mol% and<1,300°C, being formed via reaction San + L=KCpx. The KJd content in KCpx is controlled by the equilibrium San=KJd + SiOthat displaces to the right with increasing pressure and decreasing both the temperature andThis equilibrium is considered to be responsible for the formation of San lamellae in natural UHP Cpx. In our experiments at 3.5 GPa, garnet is absent whereas the KJd and Ca-Eskola contents in Cpx are low, and the join CaMgSi2O6-KAlSi3O8 is close to binary (with the eutectic Cpx + San + L). Different topologies of the join at 6 and 3.5 GPa define a sequence of mineral crystallization from K-rich aluminosilicate melts during cooling and decompression: from KCpx + Grt without San atP>4 GPa to Cpx + San atP<4 GPa. Similar sequence of assemblages is observed in some eclogitic xenoliths from kimberlites and Grt-Cpx rocks of the Kokchetav Complex (Northern Kazakhstan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pseudo-binary system CaMgSi2O6-KAlSi2O6, modeling the potassium-bearing clinopyroxene (KCpx) solid solution, has been studied at 7 GPa and 1,100–1,650 °C. The KCpx is a liquidus phase of the system up to 60 mol% of KAlSi2O6. At higher content of KAlSi2O6 in the system, grossular-rich garnet becomes a liquidus phase. Above 75 mol% of KAlSi2O6 in the system, KCpx is unstable at the solidus as well, and garnet coexists with kalsilite, Si-wadeite and kyanite. No coexistence of KCpx with kyanite was observed. Above the solidus, KAlSi2O6 content of the KCpx coexisting with melt increases with decreasing temperature. Near the solidus of the system (about 1,250 °C) KCpx contains up to 5.6 wt% of K2O, i.e. about 22–26 mol% of KAlSi2O6. Such high concentration of potassium in KCpx is presumably the maximal content of KAlSi2O6 in the Fe-free clinopyroxene at 7 GPa. In addition to the major substitution MgM1CаМ2⇔AlМ1KМ2, the KCpx solid solution contains Ca-Eskola and only minor Ca-Tschermack components. Our experimental results indicate that the natural assemblage KCpx+grossular-rich garnet might be a product of crystallization of the ultra-potassic SiO2-rich alumino-silicate mantle melts (>200 km). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]