High-Pressure Mineral Database
Since September 13, 2011
zolenskyite (sulfides) (January 20, 2021)
elgoresyite (other dense silicates) (August 2, 2021)
feiite (other dense silicates) (May 9, 2021)
A variety of dense polymorphs of elements, oxides and silicates have been found by laboratory high-pressure experiments. In nature, shocked meteorites are the most important sources of high-pressure minerals in addition to impact crater rocks, inclusions in diamond, mantle xenoliths, and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic (UHP) rocks. It is not easy to fully characterize such high-pressure minerals because of their very small grain size and low abundance. However, state-of-art techniques such as electron microscopy, synchrotron X-ray diffractometry, and micro-Raman spectroscopy enable the identification of such small crystalline grains. As a result, many of natural high-pressure phases of silicates and oxides have been discovered since 1990's. Textural, crystallographic and chemical characteristics of meteoritic high-pressure minerals provide us not only the clues to understand the impact events of meteorite parent bodies, but also insights on the structure and dynamics of the deep Earth. This website provides a database of the high-pressure minerals in meteorites and also those in terrstrial rocks.
General references on natural high-pressure minerals:
Shocked meteorites
Impact craters
Inclusions in diamond
Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks
Schematic drawing of the formation mechanism of high-pressure minerals in shock-induced melt veins (shock veins) in meteorites. High-pressure minerals form by two types of formation mechanisms (1) solid-state high-pressure transformation of the host-rock minerals, and (2) crystallization of chondritic or monomineralic melt under high pressure in the matrix of shock veins.
Natural high-pressure minerals (including potential high-pressure minerals)
Silicate minerals
Oxide minerals
Other minerals
Host rocks of high-pressure minerals (Reference lists)
Links
American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database (by Bob Downs)
RRUFF (Integrated database of Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction and chemistry data for minerals)
Meteoritical Bulletin Database (by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society)
Earth Impact Database (by Planetary and Space Science Centre)
High-Pressure Synthesis of Deep Mantle Minerals (by Takaaki Kawazoe)
Acknowledgements
This database was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 15H03750, 23540558 and contributions from the following people:
Makoto Kimura, National Institute of Polar Research, Japan
Chi Ma, California Institute of Technology, USA
Andrew Putnis, University of Münster, Germany
Zhidong Xie, Nanjing University, China
Luca Bindi, Università di Firenze, Italy
Miho Sasaoka, Kochi University, Japan
Masaki Akaogi, Gakushuin University, Japan
Richard Wirth, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Germany
Narangoo Purevjav, University of Bayreuth, Germany