X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy of monazite-structured CaSO4 at high pressures: Implications for shocked anhydrite Original Research Article

X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy of CaSO4 are conducted to pressures of 28 and 25 GPa, respectively. A reversible phase transition to the monoclinic monazite-structure occurs gradually between 2 and ∼5 GPa with a highly pressure-dependent volume change of ∼6–8%. A second-order fit of the X-ray data to the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state yields a bulk modulus (K) of 151.2 (±21.4) GPa for the high-pressure monoclinic phase. In the high-pressure infrared spectrum, the infrared-active asymmetric stretching and bending vibrations of the sulfate tetrahedra split at the phase transition, in accord with the results of factor group analysis. Additionally, the tetrahedral symmetric stretching vibration, which is weak in the anhydrite phase, becomes strongly resolved at the transition to the monazite structure. The infrared results indicate that the sulfate tetrahedra are more distorted in the monazite-structured phase than in anhydrite. Kinetic calculations indicate that the anhydrite to monazite transformation may generate the phase transition observed near 30 GPa under shock loading in CaSO4. Our results indicate that the anhydrite- and monazite-structured phases may be the only phases that occur under shock loading of CaSO4 to pressures in excess of 100 GPa.