High-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of tremolite and actinolite in various fluids

Pressure-dependent structural and morphological changes of two amphibole minerals, tremolite and actinolite, were investigated up to 7.0 GPa using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction underthree different pressure transmission media (PTM): water (W), CO2 and silicone oil (SI). The elastic response of tremolite and actinolite are found to be dependent on the PTM used. When using water (W) as PTM, tremolite and actinolite show normal volume contractions with bulk moduli of 74(1) and 78(1) GPa, respectively. When using CO2 as PTM, we observe the formation of calcite from tremolite above 3.8(1) GPa, whereas actinolite did not show any carbonation reaction. Under silicone oil PTM, we observe modulated volume contraction behaviors in both samples, compared to water and CO2 PTM, with bulk moduli in the order of 90(1) and 94(4) GPa for tremolite and actinolite, respectively.