A possible new host mineral of large-ion elements in the Earth’s deep interior

Abstract:

The radiogenic heat production as well as the secular cooling is essential in order to better understand the thermal history and dynamics in the Earth. Potassium is thought to be one of the important radioactive elements in the Earth’s interior. Although these elements are concentrated in the continental and oceanic crusts due to chemical differentiations through partial melting at plate boundaries due to their large ion-radii, they have been considered to return into the deep mantle accompanied with subducting slab through time . However, since there are few studies on host minerals of potassium in the high P,T condition, it has yet to be clear how much and where host rocks of such radioactive elements exist in the Earth. Hence, it is important to understand the fate of the potassium-bearing phase subducted into the deep Earth’s interior. Here we have studied the high-pressure stability and elasticity of KMg₂Al₅SiO₁₂ hexagonal aluminous phase (K-Hex with three different size of cation cites, by means of the density functional computation method. Results indicate that the K-Hex phase remains mechanically stable up to 150 GPa and also energetically more stable than an isochemical form with the calcium-ferrite (K-CF) and calcium-titanate (K-CT) type structure with two different size of cation cites. In addition, when the spinel composition coexists with the K-hollandite (K-Hol) phase, which is ), which is considered to be able to host potassium the K-Hex phase becomes more stable than the K-Hol phase at pressures above ~27 GPa. These demonstrate that the Hex phase is substantially stable in the lower mantle, suggesting that it could be a potential host of potassium and other incompatible large-ion elements.