Railsback's Some Fundamentals of Mineralogy and Geochemistry

Bowen's Reaction Series V: A summary explanation

This is the fifth of five pages explaining the order of the minerals in Bowen's Reaction Series. The usual first
minerals to form are those rich in cations of intermediate ionic potential, which bond strongly to O2- but don't have
such highly focused charge that they set up cation-cation repulsions. The usual later, or lower-temperature,
minerals either have cations of low ionic potential, which only bond weakly to O2-, and/or they have the cation of
high ionic potential, Si4+, which generates cation-cation repulsions that destabilize their mineral structures at higher
temperatures.

More cations of

No Si4+
Less intermediate Minerals

sites
Olivine Spinels Anorthite forming at

tetrah s Si 4+ in
Si - Si4+
4+
silica tetrahed
Less linkage

(Chromite, (calcic ionic potential highest

Magnetite, plagioclase) repulsion (e.g., Mg2+)

edral
Pyroxenes tempera-
etc.)* forming stable tures
(e.g. augite)
bonds with O2-

Le s
Some
Plagioclase

Si4+
Amphiboles Zircon Feldspars
of

(e.g.,
ra

Albite
hornblende) (sodic
plagioclase)
Biotite
in More cations of low
M Potassium Feldspar 4+ l ionic potential (e.g.,
s i l o re Si r a
i c a lin Muscovite
r e hed More K+) forming weak Minerals
t e t ka g o s 2- forming at
M etra site bonds with O
are Si4+
cations

ra e 4+ - Si4+
he of Quartz t Si lowest
and/or more cations tempera-
All

dr repulsion
a of high ionic tures
potential (e.g., Si 4+)
*Bowen's (1922) original formuation of the "reaction principal" included this middle
branch for the spinels. Zircon is added here for the sake of completeness. generating cation-
cation repulsions
3000 Melting temperatures of
Bowen's
temperature (°C)
of oxides of hard

2500 oxides of hard cations

Reaction Series
Mleting

cations

2000
1500
Dry Li N
1000 Fe2+ Fe3+ 4+ Wet
500 Na+Ca2+ Mg2+ 3+ 4+Ti 3+
K+ Cr Zr Al Si4+
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Low ionic potential Intermediate ionic potential High ionic potential
(weak cation-O2- bonds) (Stable cation-O2- frameworks) (cation-cation repulsion) K
Ionic potential (charge ÷ radius) of cations

Contours of ionic potential:

Conceptual model of the behavior of oxides
of hard (and intermediate) cations
Li + Be2+ B3+ C4+ N5+ Li N
32 Cations
H+ 1Å
Na+ Mg2+ Al 3+ Si4+ P5+ S6+
16
K+ Ca2+ Sc3+ Ti 4+ V5+ Cr 6+
High z/r

Rb+ Sr 2+ Y 3+ Zr 4+ Nb5+ Mo6+ Rb O2– Strong

bonds, but
Intermediate
Low z/r cation-cation
z/r
Cs+ Ba2+ La3+ Hf4+ Ta5+ W 6+ repulsion
Weak cation- Strong cation- Thus less
1 2 4 8 oxygen bonds oxygen bonds stable solids
charge Thus less stable Thus stable
= ionic potential solids solids
radius LBR BRSV06 rev. 1/2007