Summary: Solid-liquid-vapour phase equilibria for the join Ca(OH)2-Ca3(PO4)2-H2O at 1000 bars are determined in the temperature range 700 to 950°C. The isobaric invariant equilibrium portlandite + hydroxyapatite → liquid on the join Ca(OH)2-Ca3(PO4)2 involves a liquid with the composition 96 wt. % Ca(OH)2, 4 wt. % Ca2(PO4)2 and occurs at 765°C. The isobaric invariant equilibrium portlandite + hydroxyapatite + vapour → liquid on the join Ca(OH)2-Ca3(PO4)2-H2O is encountered at 735°C, and involves a liquid containing 92 wt. % Ca(OH)2, 4 wt. % Ca3(PO4)2, and 4 wt. % H2O. The apatites are shown by X-ray diffraction techniques to vary in composition with changes in the bulk composition from which crystallization occurred.
The apatite liquidus is steep; apatite is the first mineral to crystallize from calcium-hydroxide-rich liquids containing as little as 4 wt. % Ca2(PO4)2 (1·8 % P2O5) at temperatures as low as 735°C in the presence of vapour at 1000 bars pressure; and rapid crystal settling of apatite was experimentally noted. These observations suggest that concentrations of apatite in carbonatites are the result of crystal accumulation from liquids relatively poor in P2O5.
Mineralogical Magazine; December 1966 v. 36; no. 276; p. 1110-1122; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1966.036.276.06
© 1966, The Mineralogical Society
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