Abstract
A phase of silica denser than stishovite (SiO2-rutile) has been searched for intensively. Following the suggestions by APtshuler et al.1 and Simakov et al. 2, SiO2-fluorite was once regarded as a candidate for such a high-pressure phase. Subsequent theoretical studies3,4 revealed, however, that SiO2-fluorite would have at most about the same density as SiO2-rutile and that it would be dynamically unstable at pressures below 170 GPa (ref. 4). Here we propose an alternative hypothetical polymorph of silica with a modified fluorite (Pa&3macr;) structure as a possible high-pressure phase. SiO2-Pa&3macr; would have a density of 4.46 gcm-3 (∼6% denser than SiO2-rutile at normal pressures) and should become more stable than SiO2-rutile at pressures of ≳=60 GPa. These results also suggest that MgSiO3-perovskite, which is widely accepted as the major constituent within the Earth's deep interior, may be unstable at very high pressure.
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Taeck Park, K., Terakura, K. & Matsui, Y. Theoretical evidence for a new ultra-high-pressure phase of SiO2. Nature 336, 670–672 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/336670a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/336670a0
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