Ringwoodite
Ringwoodite is a mineral. It is a type of olivine which is formed at high temperatures and pressures in the Earth's mantle between 525 and 660 km deep. Olivine is a magnesium iron silicate. This mineral was first identified in a meteorite in 1969.[1] It may be present in large quantity in the Earth’s mantle.
Ringwoodite is notable because to contains hydroxide ions (oxygen and hydrogen atoms bound together) in its structure.[2] This suggests that there is from one to three times the world ocean's equivalent of water in the mantle's transition zone from 410 to 660 km deep.[3][4]
Ringwoodite Media
Molar volume vs. pressure at room temperature for ringwoodite γ-Mg2SiO4
Molar volume vs. pressure at room temperature for ahrensite γ-Fe2SiO4
References
- ↑ Binns R.A. et al 1969. Ringwoodite, natural (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 Spinel group in the Tenham meteorite. Nature 221, 943-944.
- ↑ Ye Y. et al 2012. "Compressibility and thermal expansion study of hydrous Fo100 ringwoodite with 2.5(3) wt% H2O" Archived 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine. American Mineralogist 97, 573-582.
- ↑ Oskin, Betty 2014. Rare diamond confirms that Earth's mantle holds an ocean's worth of water. Scientific American. March 12, 2014. [1]
- ↑ Schmandt, Brandon; et al. (2014). "Dehydration melting at the top of the lower mantle". Science. 344 (6189): 1265–1268. Bibcode:2014Sci...344.1265S. doi:10.1126/science.1253358. PMID 24926016. S2CID 206556921. Retrieved 13 June 2014.