Carbonate stability in the earth's mantle - A vibrational spectroscopic study of aragonite and dolomite at high pressures and temperatures

The structural changes of aragonite and dolomite taking place at high pressures and temperatures were investigated by measuring the Raman spectra of these materials to pressures of 23 and 28 GPa (generated in a diamond anvil cell), respectively; in addition, the IR spectra of aragonite were measured to 40 GPa. The spectroscopic data demonstrated that, at 300 K, dolomite and aragonite samples were stable to pressures of 28 and 41 GPa, respectively. No phase transitions were observed following heating of aragonite and dolomite to temperatures of 2000 K and 800 K, respectively. The mode Grueneisen parameters indicate that the carbonate group in these two minerals is relatively insensitive to pressure, with the dominant compaction mechanism being the compression of the Ca and Mg polyhedra.