Experimental and theoretical XANES study of the effects of Fe-Mg solid solution in the enstatite-ferrosilite series

Synthetic orthopyroxenes in the join enstatite - ferrosilite (Mg₂Si₂O₆-Fe₂Si₂O₆) have been studied by XANES with the aim to interpret the variations found in the spectra and evaluate the effects of the Mg-Fe substitution in the orthopyroxene (OPX) structure. The experimental Fe- and Mg-K edge XANES spectra show variations of the peaks intensity as a function of the chemical composition of the samples along the EN-FS join. In the region of the Fe edge, the intensity ratio between peak A and B (IB/IA) varies linearly (R=0.99) with the Mg/Fe substitution. Multiple scattering calculation have been performed both at the Fe and Mg K-edge, to study the geometrical modifications of the M1 and M2 octahedral sites induced by the Mg-Fe substitutions. The spectra, obtained locating Fe (or Mg) in both M1 and M2 and weighing the contributions using the occupancy data for the M1 and M2 sites determined by XRD, allow to discriminate the effects to the total spectrum due to Fe (Mg) located in each sites separately.