Direct shock wave loading of Stishovite to 235 GPa: Implications for perovskite stability relative to an oxide assemblage at lower mantle conditions

Pure stishovite and coesite samples with zero porosity and dimensions appropriate for planar shock wave experiments have been synthesized with multi-anvil high- pressure techniques. The equation of state of stishovite is obtained by direct shock wave loading up to 235 GPa: K_0T = 306 ± 5 GPa and K′_0T = 5.0 ± 0.2 where K_0T and K′_0T are ambient bulk modulus and its pressure derivative, respectively. The Hugoniots (shock equations of state) for stishovite, coesite and quartz achieve widely differing internal energy states at equal volume and therefore allow us to determine the Gruneisen parameter of stishovite. On the basis of the resulting P-V-T equation of state for stishovite and previous studies on other phases on the MgO-SiO₂ binary, the breakdown reaction of MgSiO₃-perovskite to MgO and SiO₂ was calculated. Our calculations show that perovskite is thermodynamically stable relative to the stishovite and periclase assemblage at lower mantle conditions. We obtain similar results for a range of models, despite the appreciable differences among these experiment- based thermodynamic parameters.