Shock-induced phase transitions in the MgO–FeO system to 200 GPa Original Research Article

We report new shock-compression data for single-crystal MgO at 114 and 192 GPa. Our data together with the existing shock-wave data revealed a volume discontinuity at 170±10 GPa along with the MgO Hugoniot. The discontinuity gives a volume increase of 1.9%, indicating a possible phase transition from a rock-salt structure (B1) to a high-temperature phase along with the MgO Hugoniot. We re-examined the Hugoniot data on polycrystalline sample (Mg0.6, Fe0.4)O up to 200 GPa [M.S. Vassiliou, T.J. Ahrens, The equation of state of Mg0.6Fe0.4O to 200 GPa, Geophys. Res. Lett. 9 (1982) 127–130], which showed similar discontinuity with a 2.2% volume increase at 135±10 GPa. Our results add to fundamental understandings of the behavior of MgO and the lower mantle mineral magnesiowüstite (Mg, Fe)O at ultrahigh pressure and temperature.