Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Uncommonly Useful
Garnet crystals are
not only beautiful, but
they can contain a vast
Ethan F. Baxter1, Mark J. Caddick 2, and Jay J. Ague3,4 storehouse of informa-
tion about the evolving
Earth. PHOTO COURTESY
1811-5209/13/0009-415$2.50 DOI: 10.2113/gselements.9.6.415 OF G EORGE R OSSMAN AND
MARK GARCIA
G
arnet is a widespread mineral in crustal metamorphic rocks, a primary and relative resistance to surface
constituent of the mantle, a detrital mineral in clastic sediments, and weathering processes, garnet is
also a common detrital phase
an occasional guest in igneous rocks. Garnet occurs in ultramafic to in the heavy-mineral fraction of
felsic bulk-rock compositions, and its growth and stability span from <300 sediments and sedimentary rocks.
to 2000 C and from atmospheric pressure to 25 GPa. More than merely a Finally, garnet is a useful mineral
in geoscientific inquiry and for its
constituent of these rocks, garnet possesses chemical and physical attributes role in industrial, technological,
allowing it to record, and influence, a diverse suite of tectonic, metamorphic, and societal contexts.
and mantle processes, making it uncommonly useful in geoscientific inquiry. In this issue of Elements, we
Because of its myriad colors, garnet has been used through the ages in jewelry. portray some of the richness and
More recently, nonsilicate crystals with the garnet structure have been fabri- variety of garnet, focusing on its
widespread geological occurrence
cated for sophisticated laser, magnetic, and ion-conducting technologies. (i.e. it is a common mineral) and
KEYWORDS : garnet, mantle, crust, metamorphism, geothermobarometry, its remarkably broad applications
geochronology, technology (i.e. it is uncommonly useful). The
articles in this issue provide an
appreciation of the role of garnet
GARNET IS EVERYWHERE from its place in the deep Earth, up through the crust,
The dark red crystals that frequently adorn common and to its applications in society. Wood, Kiseeva, and
mica schists are garnet (FIG. 1A). The purple-red hue that Matzen begin with a discussion of the largest reservoir
sometimes decorates the crests and troughs of wave ripples of garnet in the planetthe mantlewhere the mineral
at the beach or concentrates in deep red bands and rivulets has profound influence over geodynamic and geochem-
after a winter storm is the result of millions of garnet ical processes. Caddick and Kohn outline the role of
grains (FIG. 1B). A dazzling green gemstone that might be garnet in the metamorphic rocks of the crust, including
mistaken for an emerald is really a garnet (FIG. 1D). That its use as a monitor of evolving metamorphic conditions
red woodworking sandpaper on the workbench and the and underlying tectonic processes. Baxter and Scherer
red side of a common emery board are covered with discuss the growing field of garnet geochronology, whose
garnet grains (FIG. 1F). Garnet has even been documented temporal resolution permits us to know more than just
in meteorites (e.g. Krot et al. 1998) and in association with when garnet grows (and the timing of processes that
microbial life (Mnez et al. 2012). Indeed, garnet is one of may be linked to it), but also how fast and for how
the best-known minerals in the Earth and is particularly long. Ague and Carlson showcase the use of garnet
notable for its commonality in a wide range of environ- crystals to constrain the kinetics of metamorphic processes,
ments, from igneous and metamorphic to sedimentary, such as mineral nucleation, the approach to equilibrium,
from the mantle to the crust, and from nature to industry. and thermal evolution. Geiger reviews how garnet crystal
Most of Earths garnet occurs as a primary ingredient of the chemistry and structure give rise to macroscopic properties,
upper mantle. However, with the exception of xenoliths including those that have driven technological applica-
and scarce, exhumed sections of mantle lithosphere (e.g. tions of synthetic garnets. Last, Galoisy writes about the
Van Roermund and Drury 1998; Keshav et al. 2007; FIG. 1C), cultural and historical relevance of garnet, while describing
garnet is rarely observed in this context. In the crust, garnet different gem varieties and the underlying crystal chemistry
is a common constituent of metamorphic rocks derived from that creates a rainbow of colors.
almost any protolith, from lower greenschist facies rocks
to ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulites and ultrahigh- WHAT IS GARNET?
pressure (UHP) eclogites. Garnet can crystallize in igneous According to the updated garnet nomenclature published
rocks, such as peraluminous granites. Due to its density by Grew et al. (2013), the garnet supergroup includes all
minerals isostructural with garnet regardless of what elements
1 Department of Earth & Environment, Boston University
675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
occupy the four atomic sites. However, in common natural
E-mail: efb@bu.edu occurrences, garnet is a silicate mineral belonging to the
nesosilicate group (i.e. it is constructed of isolated silicon
2 Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech
4044 Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA tetrahedra [SiO44 ] bound together by other cations). Its
general formula is X3Y2 Si3O12 , where X is an eightfold-
3 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University
P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
coordinated site most commonly filled by a solid solution of
divalent Fe, Mg, Ca, and Mn, and Y is a sixfold-coordinated
4 Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University site typically fi lled by trivalent Al (i.e. the aluminosilicate
New Haven, CT 06511, USA
D E F
FIGURE 1 Garnet in its many settings, both natural (AC) and Some important garnet end-member compositional
TABLE 1
societal (DF). (A) A euhedral, ~3 cm garnet crystal in names and abbreviations
a metamorphic schist from Wrangell, Alaska. (B) Garnet beach sand
near Nome, Alaska. (C) Garnet harzburgite from the Boshoff Road Almandine Fe3Al2Si3O12 Andradite Ca3Fe2Si3O12
Dumps, Kimberley, South Africa. The garnet crystals are up to
3 mm in diameter. (D) Demantoid garnet gemstones. Grossular Ca3Al2Si3O12 Majorite Mg3 (MgSi)Si3O12
(E) Neodymium-YAG rods for use in laser technology. (F) Garnet as Pyrope Mg3Al2Si3O12 Spessartine Mn3Al2Si3O12
an abrasive in common sandpaper. PHOTOS COURTESY OF G EORGE
ROSSMAN (A), EVELYN M ERVINE (B), GRAHAM PEARSON (C), WIMON Uvarovite Ca3Cr2Si3O12
MANOROTKUL /PALAGEMS.COM (D), AND SCIENTIFIC MATERIALS CORP. (E)
YAG Y3Al2 Al3O12 YIG Y3Fe2Fe3O12
Synthetic yttrium Synthetic yttrium
aluminum garnet iron garnet
garnets) or sometimes by Fe3+ or Cr. The formulas and
names of some common species are given in TABLE 1. Many
additional end-member species (32 in total) and elemental At the time of writing, the Web of Science indicated over
substitutions exist in natural garnets; these are reviewed 26,000 published papers (since 1965, when the Web of
in Grew et al. (2013) and several are discussed in Geiger Science database begins) that include the topic of garnet.
(2013 this issue) and Wood et al. (2013 this issue). Synthetic This places garnet (as a topic) behind only five other
crystals with the garnet structure (e.g. YIG and YAG; FIG. 1E, minerals or broad mineral groups that were searched for
TABLE 1) have also been fabricated for industrial use. While (clay, graphite, quartz, diamond, zeolite) and ahead of
such synthetic compositions do not occur naturally (at least important and/or common minerals like feldspar, calcite,
not as sufficiently pure end-members), these crystalline zircon, and olivine. It is noteworthy that these highest-
oxide materials are garnet in the structural sense and thus scoring topic minerals include those with important
share certain key properties with common silicate garnets. industrial or technological applications. Garnet is thus
unusual in providing both geoscientific value and indus-
Garnets wide-ranging chemical composition and its atom- trial, technological, and cultural value.
scale structure manifest themselves in important and/or
desirable physical and optical properties, such as isometric In what ways has garnet been used or applied? A Web of
crystal structure, high bulk modulus, high density (up to Science search for papers that include the topic of garnet plus
4.5 g/cm3 for almandine), hardness (7.5), magnetism, and a one other term yields the greatest number for garnet plus
diverse range of vibrant colors. Garnets large edge-sharing metamorphism and garnet plus mantle/magma/melt,
sites can incorporate significant amounts of heavy rare driving home the importance of garnet in the evolving
earth elements, allowing for the identification of a garnet crust and mantle and in metamorphic and igneous rocks.
signature in the source of mantle melting (e.g. Wood et al. In terms of uses, the list is topped by established industrial
2013) and for sufficient enrichment of radioactive lutetium applications, including garnet plus laser and garnet
(over daughter hafnium) and samarium (over daughter plus magnetism. A Web of Science topic search for YAG
neodymium) to make garnet useful for geochronology (e.g. (yttrium aluminum garnet, important in laser technology)
Baxter and Scherer 2013 this issue). Synthetic oxide garnets alone yields over 40,000 papers! Emerging technologies
may possess properties making them unique and useful in such as Li-stuffed garnets and their use in rechargeable
several applications; such properties include magnetism battery technology have begun to attract significant atten-
(for use in electronics), lasing ability (for use in lasers), tion in recent years (see Geiger 2013 for a discussion of this
and ion conduction (for use in batteries) (see Geiger 2013). and other technological applications). These applications
are followed in number by geoscientific uses, including
UNCOMMONLY USEFUL closely related partitioning and geo/thermo/barometry.
While the former includes the role of garnet in controlling
Just how useful is garnet in comparison to other minerals?
magma compositions, geothermobarometric applications
Usefulness is of course largely subjective, though modern
of garnet, mainly involving the calibrated exchange of Fe
search engines provide a means (albeit imperfect) of quanti-
and Mg between garnet and other minerals in the mantle
fying the scientific usefulness, or frequency of application.
and crust, comprise the top three most cited papers on the
30 20 PRO 10
A
A B
B
2013).
Stable fluid Meteoric P
-0.5 composition flooding 0.10
-2.5 Rebound
'LVWDQFHP
-4.5
200 600 1000
X
0.05
X
EE
E LEMENTS 418 D ECEMBER 2013
the infi ltration of external fluid in metamorphic or hydro- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
thermal systems, for example, in its major element zoning
We thank Barbara Dutrow and Lawford Anderson for
(FIG. 4A) or in its oxygen isotope composition (e.g. Kohn et
providing thoughtful reviews of this article. We also
al. 1993; DErrico et al. 2012; FIG. 4E), which can now be
thank everyone who contributed to this issue of Elements,
measured at high spatial resolution using a secondary ion
including George Rossman and Ed Grew who offered
microprobe (SIMS) (e.g. Page et al. 2010). Ongoing debate
generous support, discussions, and figure material, all of
about the fO2 of the mantle has been aided by efforts to
the authors and reviewers, and especially Georges Calas and
link the measurement of the Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio of garnet in
Pierrette Tremblay of the Elements editorial team, without
mantle xenoliths to fO2 (see Wood et al. 2013). Recent work
whom this issue would not have been possible. EFB, MJC,
has illuminated possible mantle fO2 variations based on
and JJA acknowledge support from NSF Grants EAR-1250497,
microXANES mapping of Fe3+/Fe2+ in mantle garnet (Berry
EAR-1250470, and EAR-1250269, respectively.
et al. 2013; FIG. 4F).
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