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Perovskite, CaTiO3, originally described as a cubic mineral, is known to have a distorted (orthorhombic) crystal structure. We herein report on the discovery of natural cubic perovskite. This was identified in gehlenite rocks occurring in a pyrometamorphic complex of the Hatrurim Formation (the Mottled Zone), in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, Negev Desert, Israel. The mineral is associated with native α-(Fe,Ni) metal, schreibersite (Fe3P) and Si-rich fluorapatite. The crystals of this perovskite reach 50 μm in size and contain many micron sized inclusions of melilite glass. The mineral contains significant amounts of Si substituting for Ti (up to 9.6 wt.% SiO2) corresponding to 21 mol.% of the davemaoite component (cubic perovskite-type CaSiO3), in addition to up to 6.6 wt.% Cr2O3. Incorporation of trivalent elements results in the occurrence of oxygen vacancies in the crystal structure; this being the first example of natural oxygen-vacant ABO3 perovskite with the chemical formula Ca(Ti,Si,Cr)O3-δ (δ ~ 0.1). Stabilization of cubic symmetry (space group Pm͞3m) is achieved via the mechanism not reported so far for CaTiO3, namely displacement of an oxygen atom from its ideal structural position (site splitting). The mineral is stable at atmospheric pressure to 1250±50 °C; above this temperature its crystals fuse with the embedded melilite glass, yielding a mixture of titanite and anorthite upon melt solidification. The mineral is stable upon compression to at least 50 GPa. The a lattice parameter exhibits continuous contraction from 3.808(1) Å at atmospheric pressure to 3.551(6) Å at 50 GPa. The second-order truncation of the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state gives the initial volume V0 equal to 55.5(2) Å3 and room temperature isothermal bulk modulus K0 of 153(11) GPa. The discovery of oxygen-deficient single perovskite suggests previously unaccounted ways for incorporation of almost any element into the perovskite framework up to pressures corresponding to those of the Earth’s mantle.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Mineralogist
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2021

ID: 86534372