Omphacite’s Hidden Clues: A Step Forward in Raman Geobarometry Omphacite, a mineral commonly trapped inside garnet, could be a powerful tool for Raman elastic geobarometry—a technique that helps scientists determine the pressures ancient...
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This study “Atomic Dynamics and Structural Transformations in Chalcedony as a Model Cryptocrystalline Multiphase System at Non-Ambient Conditions” uses in situ Raman spectroscopy and HF-DFT simulations to investigate chalcedony—a...
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Unlocking Omphacite’s Potential for Raman Geothermobarometry Omphacite, a complex silicate mineral found in diverse geological environments, holds promise for elastic Raman geothermobarometry—a technique used to determine the pressure and...
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First high-pressure laboratory experiment on host-inclusion systems In his new manuscript Nicola Campomenosi describes the results of the first laboratory experiments where quartz in garnet host-inclusion systems have investigated under high...
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Can inclusions be symmetry broken? Murri and co-authors recently studied the role of symmetry-breaking strains in quartz inclusions entrapped in zircon by ab initio simulations. They discovered that for deformations expected for real cases the...
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Quartz metastability at high pressure: what new can we learn from polarized Raman spectroscopy? Despite all the work we have done on it, quartz can still surprise us! In their new paper Marta, Boriana, Ross and Matteo characterize the Raman...
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Using polarized Raman spectroscopy to study the stress gradient in mineral systems with anomalous birefringence Our PhD student Nicola Campomenosi using experimental results coupled with selected finite element models showed that the ratio...
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A new brilliant manuscript by Boriana and Naemi that finally revise the phase transition(s) of ZrSiO4 at high pressure conditions. In this manuscript published in Physics and Chemistry of Minerals they present the experimental proof for the...
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Quoting the really nice paragraph by the Editors of American Mineralogist about our paper: “stangaronite….”! Stangarone et al. (page 830) used density functional theory (DFT) simulations of the structures of zircon and reidite...
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In her latest study Claudia Stangarone carried out ab initio hybrid Hartree-Fock/Density Functional Theory simulations to determine the structure and vibrational modes of zircon, ZrSiO4, as a function of different applied strains. In her...
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Shock in meteorite impacts may transform zircon (ZrSiO4) into a denser polymorph, reidite, but the mechanism and significance of this transformation has been obscured by discrepancies between observations on natural and experimental samples. In...
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Mara Murri marks the beginning of the new year with an incredibly nice paper showing the effect of non-hydrostatic stresses on the structure of alpha-quartz. This investigation carried out through ab initio hybrid Hartree–Fock/DFT simulations...
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