My watch list
my.chemeurope.com  
Login  

Fayalite



Fayalite

General
CategoryMineral
Chemical formulaIron silicate (Fe2SiO4)
Identification
ColorPale yellow, amber and green
Crystal systemOrthorhombic
Cleavage{010} moderate, {100} weak
FractureConchoidal
Mohs Scale hardness6.5
LusterVitreous
Refractive indexα = 1.827,
β = 1.869,
γ = 1.879
Specific gravity4.392


Fayalite (Fe2SiO4) is the iron rich end-member of the olivine solid-solution series. In common with all minerals in the olivine group, fayalite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system (space group Pbnm) with cell parameters a 4.82 Å, b 10.48 Å and c Å 6.09.

Iron rich olivine is a relatively common constituent of acidic and alkaline igneous rocks such as volcanic obsidians, rhyolites, trachytes and phonolites and plutonic quartz syenites where it is associated with amphiboles. It also occurs in medium-grade thermally metamorphosed iron-rich sediments.

Fayalite is stable with quartz at low pressures, whereas more magnesian olivine is not, because of the reaction olivine + quartz = orthopyroxene. Iron stabilizes the olivine + quartz pair. The pressure and compositional dependence of the reaction can be used to calculate constraints on pressures at which assemblages of olivine + quartz formed.

Fayalite can also react with oxygen to produce magnetite + quartz: the three minerals together make up the "FMQ" oxygen buffer. The reaction is used to control the fugacity of oxygen in laboratory experiments. It can also be used to calculate the fugacity of oxygen recorded by mineral assemblages in metamorphic and igneous processes.

References

  • Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A., and Zussman, J. (1992). An introduction to the rock-forming minerals (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman ISBN 0-582-30094-0
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fayalite". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE