Calorimetric thermobarometry of experimentally shocked quartz

Structural damage in experimentally shock-metamorphosed, granular quartz is quantitatively measurable by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Shock-induced loss of crystallinity is witnessed by disappearance of the alpha/beta phase transformation and evolution of a broad endoenthalpic strain peak at 650-900 K. The strain-energy peak grows rapidly at less than 10 GPa but declines with increasing shock pressure; it approaches zero at 32 GPa where vitrification is extensive. Effects of grain size and post-shock thermal history must be better understood before calorimetric thermobarometry of naturally shocked samples becomes possible.