Combined high-pressure and high-temperature vibrational studies of dolomite: phase diagram and evidence of a new distorted modification

A combined high-pressure mid-infrared absorption and Raman spectroscopy study on a natural CaMg0.98Fe0.02(CO3)2 dolomite sample was performed both at ambient and high temperatures. A pressure–temperature phase diagram was constructed for all the reported dolomite ambient- and high-pressure polymorphs. In addition, a local distortion of the ambient-pressure dolomite structure was identified close to 11 GPa, just before the transition toward the first known high-pressure phase. All the Clausius–Clapeyron slopes are found to be positive with similar magnitudes. Complementary first-principles calculations suggest a metastable nature of the high-pressure dolomite polymorphs. Finally, theoretical spectroscopy is used to interpret and discuss the observed changes in the measured vibrational spectra.