| Abstract: | Samples of olivine (Fo(0)Fa(100), Fo(60)Fa(40), Fo(80)Fa(20), and Fo(100)Fa(0)) and of spinel (Fo(50)Fa(50), Fo(2)Fa(100), where Fo is forsterite and Fa is fayalite) were subjected to pressures up to 250 kilobars in a diamond anvil press and were heated in situ up to ~ 1700 degrees C by an infrared beam from a continuous-wave YAG (yttrium-aluminum-garnet) laser. The brightness temperature was determined from the intensity of incandescence of the sample by means of an optical pyrometer. X-ray diffraction patterns of the samples, obtained after quenching and unloading, show conclusively that these compositions disproportionate to (Mg, Fe)O and SiO(s) (stishovite) under these conditions. |
