High-pressure phase transitions in FeCr2O4 and structure analysis of new post-spinel FeCr2O4 and Fe2Cr2O5 phases with meteoritical and petrological implications

We determined phase relations in FeCr2O4 at 12-28 GPa and 800-1600 degrees C using a multi-anvil apparatus. At 12-16 GPa, FeCr2O4 spinel (chromite) first dissociates into two phases: a new Fe2Cr2O5 phase + Cr2O3 with the corundum structure. At 17-18 GPa, the two phases combine into CaFe2O4-type and CaTi2O4-type FeCr2O4 below and above 1300 degrees C, respectively. Structure refinements using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data confirmed the CaTi2O4-structured FeCr2O4 (Cmcm), and indicated that the Fe2Cr2O5 phase is isostructural to a modified ludwigite-type Mg2Al2O5 (Pbam). In situ high-pressure high-temperature X-ray diffraction experiments showed that CaFe2O4-type FeCr2O4 is unquenchable and is converted into another FeCr2O4 phase on decompression. Structural analysis based on synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data with transmission electron microscopic observation clarified that the recovered FeCr2O4 phase has a new structure related to CaFe2O4-type. The high-pressure phase relations in FeCr2O4 reveal that natural FeCr2O4-rich phases of CaFe2O4- and CaTi2O4-type structures found in the shocked Suizhou meteorite were formed above about 18 GPa at temperature below and above 1300 degrees C, respectively. The phase relations also suggest that the natural chromitites in the Luobusa ophiolite previously interpreted as formed in the deep-mantle were formed at pressure below 12-16 GPa.