Impedance spectra of hot, dry silicate minerals and rocks: qualitative interpretation of spectra

Impedance spectroscopy helps distinguish the contributions that grain interiors and grain boundaries make to electrical resistance of silicate minerals and rocks. Olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxenes, and both natural and synthetic clinopyroxenite were measured. A network of electrical elements is presented for use in interpreting impedance spectra and conductive paths in hot or cold, wet or dry, minerals and rocks at any pressure. In dry rocks, a series network path predominates; in wet rocks, aqueous pore fluid and crystals both conduct. Finite resistance across the sample-electrode interface is evidence that electronic charge carriers are present at the surface, and presumably within, the silicate minerals and rocks measured. -from Authors