Microprobe analyses of 26 natural sapphirines from 17 localities indicate that the predominant chemical substitutions in this mineral occur along the solid solution joinVI(Mg,Fe)2++IVSi4+=VI(Al, Fe)3++IVAl3+. Chromium and manganese are minor substituents. Evidence for the substitution Si⇄Al+1/2Mg+1/2 vacancy is absent within the limits of analytical error.A partitioning scheme based on electrostatic charge balance considerations has been devised permitting calculation of Fe2+ and Fe3+ from total iron content. Results are in good agreement with previous Mössbauer studies which indicate Fe3+ is sometimes in octahedral and/or tetrahedral coordination.Distribution coefficients for Fe2+-Mg exchange equilibria between sapphirine-spinel and sapphirine-orthopyroxene are similar for most mineral pairs and suggest that most of the assemblages equilibrated at about the same temperature or that the exchange reactions are insensitive to temperature.Compositions of synthetic sapphirines as a function of temperature and pressure are qualitatively predictable from crystal chemical considerations. Changes in sapphirine composition along the MgSi= AlAl solid solution join toward more aluminous compositions stabilize the sapphirine structure at high temperatures and low pressures. The limited extent of MgSi=AlAl solid solution observed in natural sapphirines appears to be related to the requirements of geometrical fit among octahedra and tetrahedra in the almost idealized cubic closest-packed anion framework.

Sapphirine I: Crystal chemical contributions

Silica-deficient rocks in which sapphirine coexists with cordierite, gedrite, chondrodite, spinel, corundum and phlogopite in various parageneses, occur in association with cordierite-garnet-sillimanitebearing granulitic gneisses in a Precambrian metamorphic terrain displaying amphibolite-granulite transition facies. Brucite coexists with spinel and corundum and its unusual stability in this environment has been attributed to its significant fluorine content. Kornerupine occurs as armoured relics within cordierite in one sample of the sapphirine-spinel-cordierite-phlogopite-bearing rock. Sapphirines (X Mg 0.77 to 0.92) plot near the 7∶9∶3 composition.X Mg varies in the order: chondrodite and brucite>gedrite>cordierite >phlogopite>sapphirine>spinel.

Chemographic relationships in sapphirine-bearing rocks from Sonapahar, Assam, India

Ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel forms small, corroded, crystalline aggregates in corundum bearing alluvials shed from the Tertiary Barrington basalt shield volcano. Sapphirine is near a 7:9:3 (MgO-Al2O3-SiO2) composition and, together with the corundum, shows reaction rims of pleonaste spinel. Spinel in the aggregates has a compositional range Sp 68–73 Hc 27–29 Cm 0–3. The aggregates give new insights into the ruby-sapphire source rocks. Potential origins include metamorphic recrystallization of aluminous material (below 1460°C) or high temperature-high pressure crystallization reactions related to lamprophyric or basaltic magmas (up to 1300°C and 20 kbar). Sapphirine-spinel thermometry suggests final crystallization temperatures for the aggregates around 780 to 940°C and reaction with host magmas at over 1000°C. The Barrington gemfield includes two distinct corundum suites. One, typical in eastern Australia, is dominated by blue-green, well-crystallized, growth-zoned sapphire, commonly containing rutile silk and Ferich spinel inclusions (Hc 51–73, Mt 18–35, Mf 6–8, Usp 2–6). The other, an unusual suite, is dominated by ruby and pastel coloured sapphires, with little crystal shape or growth zonation and restricted mineral inclusions, mostly chromian pleonaste and pleonaste. The ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel aggregates provoke new thoughts on the origin of rubies and sapphires and their indicator minerals in eastern Australian and southeastern Asian volcanic gemfields.

An unusual ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel assemblage from the Tertiary Barrington volcanic province, New South Wales, Australia

Polymetamorphic Al, Mg‐rich granulites with orthopyroxene–sillimanite and sapphirine parageneses in Archaean rocks from the Hoggar, Algeria

Sapphirine has been found in two types of magnesian, metabasic lenses from tectonite zones within the Central Gneiss Belt of the south-west Grenville Province, Canada. The first type (association I) comes from a lenticular mafic lens within highly tectonized anorthosite, the second type (association II) comes from meta-eclogitic pods with foliated amphibolite rims. In each case the sapphirine-bearing assemblages record a wealth of reaction textures. The primary mineralogy in association II is represented by high alumina clinopyroxene, garnet and kyanite ± plagioclase and records pressures of around 14-16 kbar; in association I the primary mineralogy is represented by plagioclase, two pyroxenes and possibly olivine but here the equilibrium pressure is unknown.



The host gneisses equilibrated at approximately 8 to 10 kbar and 700-750°C by continuous cation exchange reactions during and after the culmination of the Grenvillian orogeny at 1.16-1.0 Ga. It is unlikely that the higher pressures recorded in the meta-eclogitic pods represent an earlier high-pressure metamorphism as the pods are restricted to shear zones. A tectonic mode of emplacement into a crust undergoing granulite facies metamorphism is more likely. Sapphirine formed by discontinuous decompression reactions; in association II this involved a reaction between garnet and kyanite and resulted in the formation of magnesian granulite facies assemblages. At the same time primary clinopyroxene became much less aluminous by evolving plagioclase. Pressures and temperatures from coexisting phases, that are believed to have equilibrated at the same time as sapphirine formation, are estimated as 11 to 12 kbar and 750°C. These probably represent the peak conditions for granulite facies metamorphism in the south-west Grenville Province.

Tectonic implications from sapphirine‐bearing lithologies, south‐west Grenville Province, Canada

Synthetic sapphirine prepared by sintering oxide mixes at high temperatures and 1 atm has been microanalyzed. Individual grains yielded compositions in weight percent averaging MgO, 20.0; A1₂O₃, 68.1; and SiO₂, 11.9 with small scatter. This is near the theoretical composition 7MgO:9Al₂O₃:3SiO₂ but somewhat richer in A1₂O₃, being related to it by the substitution of 2Al for Mg + Si. Unit cell dimensions of the present sapphirine and other synthetic and natural sapphirines lying along the substitution line 2A1 ⇄ Mg + Si show a regular variation. The most aluminous sapphirine, the present synthetic, has the smallest unit cell volume. The aluminum content of sapphirine may be useful as a geobarometer: tetrahedral Al progressively decreases with the Crystallization pressure.

The Composition of Low-Pressure Synthetic Sapphirine

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The Composition of Low-Pressure Synthetic Sapphirine