Kinetics of the fe2+-mg, order-disorder reaction in anthophyllites: quantitative cooling rates.

The kinetics of the Fe(2+)-Mg, order-disorder phenomenon in a highly ordered natural anthophyllite have been determined over the temperature range from 400 degrees to 720 degrees C at a pressure of 2 kilobars. At temperatures of 600 degrees C and above, equilibrium is attained by disordering as well as ordering reactions. The intracrystalline exchange is defined by a standard Gibbs free energy of 4247 +/- 54 calories per formula unit. Rate studies at 550 degrees and 500 degrees C show that equilibrium is attained by ordering but not by disordering within the same time scale and that the exchange reaction is characterized by an activation energy of approximately 55 kilocalories per formula unit. An equilibration temperature for the natural anthophyllite of 270 degrees C is determined from the termination of the ordering process owing to excessively slow reaction kinetics after approximately 10(7) years. From the rate constants of the exchange process, for different crystallization temperatures, the apparent equilibration temperature of 270 degrees C defines a maximum linear cooling rate for the rock of 1 x 10(4) degrees C per year.