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A symplectite (or symplektite) is a material texture: a micrometre-scale or submicrometre-scale intergrowth of two or more crystals. Symplectites form from the breakdown of unstable phases, and may be composed of minerals, ceramics, or metals. Fundamentally, their formation is the result of slow grain-boundary diffusion relative to interface propagation rate.Lee, H. J., G. Spanos, G. J. Shiflet, and H. I. Aaronson (1988), Mechanisms of the bainite (non-lamellar eutectoid) reaction and a fundamental distinction between the bainite and pearlite (lamellar eutectoid) reactions, Acta Metall., 36, 1129– 1140.
If a material undergoes a change in temperature, pressure or other physical conditions (e.g., fluid composition or activity), one or more phases may be rendered unstable and recrystallize to more stable constituents. If the recrystallized minerals are fine grained and intergrown, this may be termed a symplectite. A cellular precipitation reaction, in which a reactant phase decomposes to a product phase with the same structure as the parent phase and a second phase with a different structure, can form a symplectite. Eutectoid reactions, involving the breakdown of a single phase to two or more phases, neither of which is structurally or compositionally identical to the parent phase, can also form symplectites.
Symplectites may be formed by
A symplectite (or symplektite) is a material texture: a micrometre-scale or submicrometre-scale intergrowth of two or more crystals. Symplectites form from the breakdown of unstable phases, and may be composed of minerals, ceramics, or metals. Fundamentally, their formation is the result of slow grain-boundary diffusion relative to interface propagation rate.Lee, H. J., G. Spanos, G. J. Shiflet, and H. I. Aaronson (1988), Mechanisms of the bainite (non-lamellar eutectoid) reaction and a fundamental distinction between the bainite and pearlite (lamellar eutectoid) reactions, Acta Metall., 36, 1129– 1140.
If a material undergoes a change in temperature, pressure or other physical conditions (e.g., fluid composition or activity), one or more phases may be rendered unstable and recrystallize to more stable constituents. If the recrystallized minerals are fine grained and intergrown, this may be termed a symplectite. A cellular precipitation reaction, in which a reactant phase decomposes to a product phase with the same structure as the parent phase and a second phase with a different structure, can form a symplectite. Eutectoid reactions, involving the breakdown of a single phase to two or more phases, neither of which is structurally or compositionally identical to the parent phase, can also form symplectites.
Symplectites may be formed by reaction
Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure:
Physics and chemistry
*Chemical reaction
*Nuclear reaction
*Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law
*Chain reaction (disambiguation).
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between adjacent phases or to decomposition of a single phase. The intergrown phases may be planar or rodlike, depending on the volume proportions of the phases, their interfacial free energies, the rate of reaction, the Gibbs free energy change, and the degree of recrystallization. Lamellar symplectites are common in retrogressed eclogite
Eclogite () is a metamorphic rock containing garnet (almandine-pyrope) hosted in a matrix of sodium-rich pyroxene (omphacite). Accessory minerals include kyanite, rutile, quartz, lawsonite, coesite, amphibole, phengite, paragonite, zoisite, dol ...
. Kelyphite is a symplectite formed from the decomposition of garnet
Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives.
All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...
.Passchier, Cees W. and Rudolph A. J. Trouw, ''Microtectonics,'' Springer, 2nd ed. 205 p. 231 Myrmekite is a globular or bulbous symplectite of quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
in plagioclase
Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more prope ...
.
Examples of symplectites formed in Earth materials include
dolomite + calcite, aragonite + calcite, and magnetite + clinopyroxene.Ashworth, J. R., and A. D. Chambers (2000), Symplectic reaction in olivine and the controls of intergrowth spacing in symplectites, J. Petrol., 41, 285–304.
Symplectite formation is important in metallurgy: bainite
Bainite is a plate-like microstructure that forms in steels at temperatures of 125–550 °C (depending on alloy content). First described by E. S. Davenport and Edgar Bain, it is one of the products that may form when austenite (the face- ...
or pearlite
Pearlite is a two-phased, lamellar (or layered) structure composed of alternating layers of ferrite (87.5 wt%) and cementite (12.5 wt%) that occurs in some steels and cast irons. During slow cooling of an iron-carbon alloy, pearlite forms ...
formation from the decomposition of austenite
Austenite, also known as gamma-phase iron (γ-Fe), is a metallic, non-magnetic allotrope of iron or a solid solution of iron with an alloying element. In plain-carbon steel, austenite exists above the critical eutectoid temperature of 1000 K ...
, for example.
See also
*Granophyre
Granophyre ( ; from ''granite'' and ''porphyry'') is a subvolcanic rock that contains quartz and alkali feldspar in characteristic angular intergrowths such as those in the accompanying image.
The texture is called granophyric. The texture can be ...
*Micrographic texture In petrology, micrographic texture is a fine-grained intergrowth of quartz and alkali feldspar, interpreted as the last product of crystallization in some igneous rocks which contain high or moderately high percentages of silica. ''Micropegmatite'' ...
References
{{Reflist Mineralogy Petrology Metamorphic petrology Phase transitions