Magnesium K-edge EXAFS study of bond-length behavior in synthetic pyrope-grossular garnet solid solutions

Direct structural characterization of the changes in the local environment of Mg occurring in the garnet structure as a function of the Ca content are determined by Mg K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure on synthetic samples along the pyrope-grossular join. With increasing Ca content, the short Mg-O2 distance of the dodecahedron slightly decreases, while the long Mg-O4 distance tends to increase, so that the dodecahedron is more distorted in grossular-rich garnets than in end-member pyrope. This quantitative direct description of the changes in the local environment of Mg in the pyrope-grossular solid solution confirms and better defines previous experimental and recent computational results.