Al-Rich Pyroxene and Melilite in a Blast-Furnace Slag and a Comparison with the Allende Meteorite

B. C. M. Butler
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR

Summary: Fassaitic diopside containing 22–23 wt% Al2O3 (approximately 41–43% calcium Tschermak's molecule, CaAl2SiO6) and melilite containing 69–43% gehlenite crystallized from a blast-furnace slag at atmospheric pressure between about 1450°C and 1250°C. The occurrence is of petrological interest because the association of pyroxene with gehlenite-rich melilite has not been recorded from experimental studies in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2, and because of the similarity of the compositions of both minerals to pyroxene and melilite in the Ca-Al-rich inclusions of the Allende meteorite.

Mineralogical Magazine; December 1977 v. 41; no. 320; p. 493-499; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1977.041.320.11
© 1977, The Mineralogical Society
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