Spin transition zone in Earth's lower mantle.

Mineral properties in Earth's lower mantle are affected by iron electronic states, but representative pressures and temperatures have not yet been probed. Spin states of iron in lower-mantle ferropericlase have been measured up to 95 gigapascals and 2000 kelvin with x-ray emission in a laser-heated diamond cell. A gradual spin transition of iron occurs over a pressure-temperature range extending from about 1000 kilometers in depth and 1900 kelvin to 2200 kilometers and 2300 kelvin in the lower mantle. Because low-spin ferropericlase exhibits higher density and faster sound velocities relative to the high-spin ferropericlase, the observed increase in low-spin (Mg,Fe)O at mid-lower mantle conditions would manifest seismically as a lower-mantle spin transition zone characterized by a steeper-than-normal density gradient.

Six-fold coordinated carbon dioxide VI.

Under standard conditions, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a simple molecular gas and an important atmospheric constituent, whereas silicon dioxide (SiO2) is a covalent solid, and one of the fundamental minerals of the planet. The remarkable dissimilarity between these two group IV oxides is diminished at higher pressures and temperatures as CO2 transforms to a series of solid phases, from simple molecular to a fully covalent extended-solid V, structurally analogous to SiO2 tridymite. Here, we present the discovery of an extended-solid phase of CO2: a six-fold coordinated stishovite-like phase VI, obtained by isothermal compression of associated CO2-II (refs 1,2) above 50 GPa at 530-650 K. Together with the previously reported CO2-V (refs 3-5) and a-carbonia, this extended phase indicates a fundamental similarity between CO2 (a prototypical molecular solid) and SiO2 (one of Earth's fundamental building blocks). We present a phase diagram with a limited stability domain for molecular CO2-I, and suggest that the conversion to extended-network solids above 40-50 GPa occurs via intermediate phases II (refs 1,2), III (refs 7,8) and IV (refs 9,10). The crystal structure of phase VI suggests strong disorder along the c axis in stishovite-like P42/mnm, with carbon atoms manifesting an average six-fold coordination within the framework of sp3 hybridization.