High-pressure synthesis of skiagite-majorite garnet and investigation of its crystal structure

Skiagite-rich garnet was synthesized as single crystals at 9.5 GPa and 1100 °C using a multi-anvil apparatus. The crystal structure [cubic, space group Ia3d, a = 11.7511(2) Å, V = 1622.69(5) Å3, Dcalc = 4.4931 g/cm3] was investigated using single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Synchrotron Mössbauer source spectroscopy revealed that Fe2+ and Fe3+ predominantly occupy dodecahedral (X) and octahedral (Y) sites, respectively, as expected for the garnet structure, and confirmed independently using nuclear forward scattering. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction suggests the structural formula of the skiagite-rich garnet to be Fe32+(Fe2+0.234(2)Fe3+1.532(1)Si4+0.234(2))(SiO4)3, in agreement with electron microprobe chemical analysis. The formula is consistent with X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra. The occurrence of Si and Fe2+ in the octahedral Y-site indicates the synthesized garnet to be a solid solution of end-member skiagite with ∼23 mol% of the Fe-majorite end-member Fe32+(Fe2+Si4+)(SiO4)3.