2016_dec Booklet A Part C Q83 📚 Petrology & Mineralogy
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Question 83

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For a solid-solid-plus-fluid decarbonation reaction like calcite + quartz ⇌ wollastonite + CO2, all the solid phases (calcite, quartz, wollastonite) are essentially pure end-member minerals with mole fractions equal to 1 (invariant), so the equilibrium temperature at a given total pressure is controlled entirely by the composition (mole fraction) of the fluid phase — specifically the mole fraction of CO2 in a mixed CO2-H2O fluid, since diluting CO2 with H2O shifts the equilibrium temperature (T-XCO2 relationships are fundamental in metamorphic petrology of calc-silicate rocks).
Because CaCO3 (calcite), SiO2 (quartz), and CaSiO3 (wollastonite) are all essentially pure solid phases in this reaction (their mole fractions in their respective phases are...

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