Low-temperature heat capacities, entropies and enthalpies of Mg2SiO4 polymorphs, and α−β−γ and post-spinel phase relations at high pressure

The low-temperature isobaric heat capacities (C p) of β- and γ-Mg2SiO4 were measured at the range of 1.8–304.7 K with a thermal relaxation method using the Physical Property Measurement System. The obtained standard entropies (S°298) of β- and γ-Mg2SiO4 are 86.4 ± 0.4 and 82.7 ± 0.5 J/mol K, respectively. Enthalpies of transitions among α-, β- and γ-Mg2SiO4 were measured by high-temperature drop-solution calorimetry with gas-bubbling technique. The enthalpies of the α−β and β−γ transitions at 298 K (ΔH°298) in Mg2SiO4 are 27.2 ± 3.6 and 12.9 ± 3.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Calculated α−β and β−γ transition boundaries were generally consistent with those determined by high-pressure experiments within the errors. Combining the measured ΔH°298 and ΔS°298 with selected data of in situ X-ray diffraction experiments at high pressure, the ΔH°298 and ΔS°298 of the α−β and β−γ transitions were optimized. Calculation using the optimized data tightly constrained the α−β and β−γ transition boundaries in the P, T space. The slope of α−β transition boundary is 3.1 MPa/K at 13.4 GPa and 1,400 K, and that of β−γ boundary 5.2 MPa/K at 18.7 GPa and 1,600 K. The post-spinel transition boundary of γ-Mg2SiO4 to MgSiO3 perovskite plus MgO was also calculated, using the optimized data on γ-Mg2SiO4 and available enthalpy and entropy data on MgSiO3 perovskite and MgO. The calculated post-spinel boundary with a Clapeyron slope of −2.6 ± 0.2 MPa/K is located at pressure consistent with the 660 km discontinuity, considering the error of the thermodynamic data.