Volcanic SiO2-cristobalite: A natural product of chemical vapor deposition

Abstract Cristobalite is a low-pressure, high-temperature SiO2 polymorph that occurs as a metastable phase in many geologic settings, including as crystals deposited from vapor within the pores of volcanic rocks. Such vapor-phase cristobalite (VPC) has been inferred to result from silica redistribution by acidic volcanic gases but a precise mechanism for its formation has not been established. We address this by investigating the composition and structure of VPC deposited on plagioclase substrates within a rhyolite lava flow, at the micrometer to nanometer scale. The VPC contains impurities of the form [AlO4/Na+]0—coupled substitution of Al3+ charge-balanced by interstitial Na+—which are ty…