Bridgmanite is a calcium silicate or magnesium silicate mineral. It is the most abundant mineral on the planet. It accounts for 70% of the Lower Mantle and is also known as silicate perovskite. Materials with a crystalline structure, such as perovskite, are generally classified as perovskite minerals. These minerals were first discovered in the region of Urals in the year 1962.
Structure of Bridgmanite
In the ABX3 form, Bridgmanite or Perovskite structures typically occur, where the metal that forms the cations is A. It can be calcium or magnesium. Another metal is B that forms other smaller cations. They can be aluminium and silicon and the last item X is oxygen.
Nomenclature of Bridgmanite
The natural bridgmanite was first discovered in the Tenam meteorite that fell in Australia in the year 1879. The name bridgmanite was not given to minerals until the year 2014. Until then, it was a perovskite mineral. This name is endorsed by the International Mineralogical Association which is a group consisting of 40 countries. Its main goal is to standardize the nomenclature of minerals known to humans. This mineral was named bridgmanite in honor of the physicist Percy Bridgeman. In the year 1946 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Formation of Bridgmanite in Earth?s mantle
In the Earth’s mantle, bridgmanite is formed during the ringwoodite decomposition. The transition which occurs from ringwoodite to bridgmanite marks the bottom of the transition region of the mantle. The zone lies at a depth of 410-660 km. Bridgmanite is unstable in Earth’s mantle.
Bridgmanite which is found in India
In the year 2012, a meteor shower fell over Nagpur. The largest meteorite from the shower weighed 1 kg. When a meteorite hits the ground, it is called a meteorite. After the meteor shower, scientists collected 30 meteorites. These meteorites are called Katol meteorites. In the month of October, 2021, scientists published specific results based on their study of the Katol meteorite. They deciphered how bridgmanite crystallized during the final stages of Earth’s formation. According to them, the bridgmanite mineral was formed at pressures of 23 to 25 gigapascals. Previous bridgmanite samples found in the Suizhou and Tenham meteorites were very different than those found on Earth. However, the bridgmanite found in katol meteorites is very similar to bridgmanite synthesized in the laboratory.
