Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Science and Education Building
Start Date
9-8-2011 10:15 AM
End Date
9-8-2011 12:00 PM
Description
Carbonate compounds are thought to make up a minor portion of the Earth's upper mantel. Shock heating of the surfaces of carbonate rocks, as in the instance of a meteor impact, has the potential to affect CO2 concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. The bulkmodulus of carbonate materials is directly proportional to the rate of devolatilization under these conditions [1]. The interest in Barium Carbonate (BaCO3) specifically is motivated by its structural proximity to aragonite carbonates. Crystalline phase transitions occur in aragonite under extreme conditions that are difficult to maintain in a laboratory; BaC03 is isostructural with aragonite and therefore is expected to have similar phase transitions at conditions easier to simulate in a laboratory. Studies of Barium carbonate will not only lead to conclusions about witherite carbonates, but aragonite carbonates as well [1]. Another, use of Barium carbonate is in ceramic glazes [4]. Under extreme conditions (firing in a kiln) the structural transition of BaCO3 provides changes necessary for interesting glazes. This experiment was conducted with an aim of understanding the phase transition behavior of BaCO3 under pressure and providing more detailed analysis of the high pressure phase by extending the pressure range previously investigated [1,2,3]
Keywords
Aragonite; Barium Carbonate; Carbonates; High pressure (Science); Phase transformations (Statistical physics)
Disciplines
Earth Sciences | Mineral Physics | Physics
Language
English
High pressure structural studies on BaCO3 up to 20 GPa
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Science and Education Building
Carbonate compounds are thought to make up a minor portion of the Earth's upper mantel. Shock heating of the surfaces of carbonate rocks, as in the instance of a meteor impact, has the potential to affect CO2 concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. The bulkmodulus of carbonate materials is directly proportional to the rate of devolatilization under these conditions [1]. The interest in Barium Carbonate (BaCO3) specifically is motivated by its structural proximity to aragonite carbonates. Crystalline phase transitions occur in aragonite under extreme conditions that are difficult to maintain in a laboratory; BaC03 is isostructural with aragonite and therefore is expected to have similar phase transitions at conditions easier to simulate in a laboratory. Studies of Barium carbonate will not only lead to conclusions about witherite carbonates, but aragonite carbonates as well [1]. Another, use of Barium carbonate is in ceramic glazes [4]. Under extreme conditions (firing in a kiln) the structural transition of BaCO3 provides changes necessary for interesting glazes. This experiment was conducted with an aim of understanding the phase transition behavior of BaCO3 under pressure and providing more detailed analysis of the high pressure phase by extending the pressure range previously investigated [1,2,3]
Comments
Research sponsored by: NSF grant # DMR-1005247