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δ-AlOOH is regarded as a potential water carrier that is stable in the Earth’s lower mantle down to the core-mantle boundary along the cold slab geotherm; thus, knowledge of its structural evolution under high pressure is very important for understanding water transport in the Earth’s interior. In this work, we conducted Raman scattering and luminescence spectroscopic experiments on δ-AlOOH at pressures up to 34.6 and 22.1 GPa, respectively. From the collected Raman spectra, significant changes in the pressure dependence of the frequencies of Raman-active modes were observed at ~8 GPa, with several modes displaying softening behavior. In particular, the soft A1 mode, which corresponds to a lattice vibration of the AlO6 octahedron correlated to OH stretching vibrations, decreases rapidly with increasing pressure and shows a trend of approaching 0 cm−1 at ~9 GPa according to a quadratic polynomial extrapolation. These results provide clear Raman-scattering spectroscopic evidence for the P21nm-to-Pnnm structural transition. Similarly, the phase transition was also observed in the luminescence spectra of Cr3+ in both powder and single-crystal δ-AlOOH samples, characterized by abrupt changes in the pressure dependences of the wavelength of the R-lines and sidebands across the P21nm-to-Pnnm transition. The continuous decrease in R2-R1 splitting with pressure indicated that the distortion of the AlO6 octahedron was suppressed under compression. No abnormal features were clearly observed in our Raman or luminescence spectra at ~18 GPa, where the ordered symmetrization or fully centered state with hydrogen located at the midpoint of the hydrogen bond was observed by a previous neutron diffraction study. However, some subtle changes in Raman and luminescence spectra indicated that the ordered symmetrization state might form at around 16 GPa.

Mineral dehydration in the subduction zone enormously affects Earth’s geodynamics and the global geochemical cycles of elements. This work uses Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to investigate the dehydration process of antigorite under compression and shear loading conditions in a rotational diamond anvil cell (RDAC) at room temperature. In order to compare the shear effects, T301 stainless steel and Kapton plastic are applied as the gasket materials. In the experiment using a high-strength T301 stainless steel gasket, two new broad OH-stretching peaks of H2O and H3O2− appear at 3303 and 3558 cm−1, respectively, at 1.7 GPa. The original sharp OH-stretching peaks of antigorite at 3668 and 3699 cm−1 remain, while the central pressure is increased to 8.0 GPa, and the largest pressure gradient is about 2.5 GPa in the sample chamber. In another experiment with a low-strength gasket of Kapton plastic, two new OH-stretching broad peaks of H2O and H3O2− also start to appear at 3303 and 3558 cm−1, respectively, at a lower pressure of 0.3 GPa, but the original sharp OH-stretching peaks of antigorite at 3668 and 3699 cm−1 almost completely vanish as the central pressure reaches 3.0 GPa, with the largest pressure gradient at around 4.8 GPa. The comparison between the two experiments shows that antigorite is easier to dehydrate in the chamber of a Kapton plastic gasket with a larger gradient of shear stress. However, its axial compression stress is lower. The high-pressure Raman spectra of MgO2(OH)4 octahedron and SiO4 tetrahedron in the low wavenumber zones (100–1200 cm−1) combined with the micro-beam X-ray diffraction spectrum of the recovered product strongly support the structural breakdown of antigorite. This investigation reveals that the water-bearing silicate minerals have strong shear dehydration in the cold subduction zone of the plate, which has important applications in predicting the physical and chemical properties of subduction zones and deducing the rate of plate subduction.

Crystals usually grow by attachment of ions or atoms to seed crystals. The explorations two decades ago showed that oriented attachment, an aggregation-based crystal growth, can be an alternative process in nanocrystal solutions. However, oriented attachment is thought to be not operative in solids as the rotational alignment is not favored in the absence of a liquid medium. Here, we report the unusual grain growth of nickel nanoparticles during calcination. The nickel nanocrystals calcined at 600 °C were coarsened by nearly two folds, much larger than the coarsening amount at lower and higher temperatures, which suggests that directional growth based on oriented attachment wins out over the classical crystal growing mechanism at a certain temperature. Varied temperature transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation confirmed the oriented attachment behavior in the growth of nanocrystals. This finding reshapes our view on the mechanism of grain growth at the nanoscale and helps us to better design the synthesis and application of nanomaterials.

Significance The presence of extra reducer was thought to be essential for producing natural diamonds from reduction of carbonates. The present study of the Xiuyan meteoritic crater, however, finds natural diamond formation via a subsolidus self-redox of a ferromagnesian carbonate during shock compression to 25–45 GPa and 800–900 °C without melting, fluid, and another reductant. The ability of carbonate to produce diamond by itself implies that diamond would be a very common mineral in the lower mantle where the carbonates are abundant and pressures and temperatures are sufficiently high., Formation of natural diamonds requires the reduction of carbon to its bare elemental form, and pressures (P) greater than 5 GPa to cross the graphite–diamond transition boundary. In a study of shocked ferromagnesian carbonate at the Xiuyan impact crater, we found that the impact pressure–temperature (P-T) of 25–45 GPa and 800–900 °C were sufficient to decompose ankerite Ca(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2 to form diamond in the absence of another reductant. The carbonate self-reduced to diamond by concurrent oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ to form a high-P polymorph of magnesioferrite, MgFe3+2O4. Discovery of the subsolidus carbonate self-reduction mechanism indicates that diamonds could be ubiquitously present as a dominant host for carbon in the Earth’s lower mantle.

Nanocrystalline magnesium aluminate was synthesized with the coprecipitation method. Its growing behaviors as a function of temperature were studied with synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that the particle growth was greatly inhibited at temperatures below 1000 °C due to the hydroxide precursor reactants. Above 1000 °C, magnesium aluminate nanoparticles start to grow fast. After two hours annealing at 1200 °C, the grain size changes by multiple folds, suggesting that oriented attachment may occur. Above 1200 °C, the grain size changes in various directions are much smaller than the average grain size, indicating the oriented attachment mechanisms become inactive in the growth of MgAl2O4 nanoparticles with sizes larger than 42 nm.

The high-pressure minerals of reidite and coesite have been identified in the moderately shock-metamorphosed gneiss (shock stage II, 3545GPa) and the strongly shock-metamorphosed gneiss (shock stage III, 4555GPa), respectively, from the polymict breccias of the Xiuyan crater, a simple impact structure 1.8km in diameter in China. Reidite in the shock stage II gneiss displays lamellar textures developed in parental grains of zircon. The phase transformation of zircon to reidite likely corresponds to a martensitic mechanism. No coesite is found in the reidite-bearing gneiss. The shock stage III gneiss contains abundant coesite, but no reidite is identified in the rock. Coesite occurs as acicular, dendritic, and spherulitic crystals characteristic of crystallization from shock-produced silica melt. Zircon in the rock is mostly recrystallized. The postshock temperature in the shock stage III gneiss is too high for the preservation of reidite, whereas reidite survives in the shock stage II gneiss because of relatively low postshock temperature. Reidite does not occur together with coesite because of difference in shock-induced temperature between the shock stage II gneiss and the shock stage III gneiss.

The 1.8 km-diameter Xiuyan crater is an impact structure in northeastern China, exposed in a Proterozoic metamorphic rock complex. The major rocks of the crater are composed of granulite, hornblendite, gneiss, tremolite marble, and marble. The bottom at the center of the crater covers about 100 m thick lacustrine sediments underlain by 188 m thick crater-fill breccia. A layer of polymict breccia composed of clasts of granulite, gneiss, hornblendite, and fragments of glass as well as clastic matrix, occurs near the base, in the depth interval from 260 to 295 m. An investigation in quartz from the polymict breccia in the crater-fill units reveals abundant planar deformation features (PDFs). Quartz with multiple sets of PDFs is found in clasts of granulite that consist of mainly quartz and feldspar, and in fine-grained matrix of the impact-produced polymict breccia. A universal stage was used to measure the orientation of PDFs in 70 grains of quartz from five thin sections made from the clasts of granulite of polymict breccia recovered at the depth of 290 m. Forty-four percent of the quartz grains contain three sets of PDFs, and another 40% contain two sets of PDFs. The most abundant PDFs are rhombohedron forms of pf10 12g, xf10 13g ,a ndr=zf10 11g with frequency of 33.5, 22.3, and 9.6%, respectively. A predominant PDF form of f10 12g in quartz suggests a shock pressure >20 GPa. The occurrence of PDFs in quartz from the polymict breccia provides crucial evidence for shock metamorphism of target rocks and confirms the impact origin of this crater, which thus appears to be the first confirmed impact crater in China.

The well-preserved 1.8-km-diameter Xiuyan crater is located in the low mountain-hill region of the northern part of Liaodong Peninsula of northern China. Recently, a 307-m-deep borehole at the centre of crater became available. After penetrating 107 m lacustrine sediments, a breccia lens about 188 m in thickness was encountered. The crater-fill breccia is deposits of rock clasts and fragments more or less shock-metamorphosed. The features of geological structure and stratigraphic configuration within the crater, shock-melted rocks, and PDFs in quartz found in the basement rocks close to the crater rim and in the crater-fill breccia provide clear evidence for an impact origin of the Xiuyan crater.

Raman spectrum and angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction (ADXD) measurements have been performed to investigate the effects of high temperature on the high-pressure behavior of bulk CeO 2 . A phase transformation of CeO 2 from fluorite to PbCl 2 -type structure occurs at 12.0 GPa and is completed at 14.2 GPa after the sample is heated, and the phase transition pressure decreases by nearly 20 GPa compared with that at room temperature. On decompression, the high-pressure phase of CeO 2 remains down to 2.2 GPa, and it changes back to a cubic structure at ambient conditions. At a pressure of 22.1 GPa, a 6.4% lattice volume difference between the fluorite and PbCl 2 -type structures was observed. The lattice volume of fluorite phase obtained in the areas that have been heated is about 1% less than that obtained in the areas that have not been heated. Besides prompting the phase transition of CeO 2 , high temperature also anneals the sample and leads a small reduction in lattice volume of the fluorite phase. The zero-pressure bulk modulus of the fluorite phase of CeO 2 after annealing is calculated to be about 200 GPa with an assumed pressure derivative of four, which is smaller than that of former x-ray diffraction experiments at room temperature.