The Studies in Silicate Chemistry of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington

JSGT_1936_V20_T245_T256

The Geophysical Laboratory has been in existence for thirty years. An account is given of the researches carried out during that period on the phase equilibria of silicate systems, particularly in their application to geology and mineralogy. Whilst no quaternary system has yet been completed, and the phase relations of a normal granite require consideration of a 5-component system with pressure and temperature variables, the results obtained on the binary and ternary systems have been of great technical importance. When oxides of iron are present in silicates, oxygen must also be considered as a component, and in rock-forming systems water also plays an important part.

G. W. Morey