Hydrogenation of iron sulfide (FeS) under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions has attracted attention because hydrogen and sulfur are promising candidates as light elements in the cores of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. In earlier reports describing the hydrogenation of FeS, the chemical compositions of starting materials were not fully clarified. This study reports in-situ neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions of an Fe-S-H system using a stochiometric Fe_1.000S (troilite) as a starting material. The site occupancies of hydrogen atoms in FeS, estimated by Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction patterns collected at about 5 GPa, were 0.014(2) at 700 K and 0.024(2) at 1000 K. The hydrogen occupancy at 900 K and 18.2 GPa was estimated as 0.067(6) from the unit-cell volume determined by X-ray diffraction using the hydrogen-induced volume expansion calculated from first-principles calculations. These occupancies were significantly lower than those reported from earlier studies, indicating that the hydrogenation of FeS can be affected strongly by the stoichiometry of iron sulfide.

Grain growth experiments were performed on rhombohedral camphor as a rock analogue at 24 °C (i.e., room temperature = RT) and higher temperatures of 31, 35, 43, and 50 °C. The experiments were very simple compared with those on rocks, which require special apparatuses. The ground sample of camphor was pressed on a glass slide, and a thermometer was set next to the sample. The two-dimensional see-through experiment was performed at RT under a polarizing microscope. The evolving microstructures were clearly observable and showed real-time grain boundary migration by grain growth and the consumption of smaller grains by neighboring larger grains. The result was a consistent increase in grain size from ∼10 to ∼40 µm in 2 h. The higher-temperature experiments were performed on a hot plate. A glass slide and a weight that had been preheated on the hot plate were placed on top of the glass slide that contained the pressed sample and thermometer. The increase in grain size was controlled by increasing the temperature, with the temperature being held for the same durations. The grain size data in the case of grain growth were analyzed with the grain growth law of dⁿ − d₀ⁿ = k₀exp(−Q/RT)t, where d (µm) is the grain size at time t (s), d₀ (µm) is the initial grain size, n is the grain growth exponent, k₀ (µmⁿ/s) is a constant, Q (kJ/mol) is the activation energy, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature in Kelvin. The determined parameters were n = 3.7 ± 0.2, k₀ = 10^{–12.7 ± 0.1}, and Q = 60.4 ± 6.1.

Ezochiite, a newly-discovered platinum-group mineral in the thiospinel group having the ideal formula Cu⁺(Rh³⁺Pt⁴⁺)S₄, was discovered in samples from the Tomamae coast near Tomamae town, Hokkaido, Japan. Additional specimens were later found in the Shosanbetsu river, Ainusawa river and Obira coast, Hokkaido. Ezochiite crystallized in melt pockets trapped in isoferroplatinum grains, occurring in the form of anhedral grains less than 5 μm in length. Ezochiite is associated with sulfide minerals such as braggite, cooperite, torryweiserite and chalcopyrite. It is opaque and has a metallic luster with a bluish gray color in reflected light. The Mohs hardness of this mineral was estimated to be 5 by analogy with related thiospinel group minerals and a density of 6.66 g·cm^-3 was calculated from the empirical formula and powder X-ray diffraction data. The empirical formula, on the basis of 7 apfu was (Cu⁺_0.85Fe³⁺_0.15)_Σ1.00(Rh³⁺_1.09Pt⁴⁺_0.78Ir³⁺_0.08Pt²⁺_0.05)_Σ2.00S_4.00 for a specimen obtained from the Tomamae coast. The powder X-ray diffraction study indicated that the mineral exhibits the spinel structure, space group Fd3m, with lattice parameters a = 9.8559(14) Å and V = 957.4(4) ų (Z = 8). Evidence for a spinel structure was also provided by Raman spectra. Data from samples of ezochiite and cuprorhodsite from samples sourced in Hokkaido showed a compositional relationship based on coupled Fe³⁺_0.5Rh³⁺-Cu⁺_0.5Pt⁴⁺ substitution. Ezochiite is not rare. It is also found various other geological environments, including in ophiolites, Ural-Alaskan intrusions and mafic-ultramafic intrusions.

A WNW-ESE-trending mafic dyke intruding across major structures in high-grade metamorphic rocks was found at Niban Iwa (translated as “Number Two Rock”) in the Proterozoic Lützow-Holm Complex of East Antarctica. It is holocrystalline and aphyric, and comprises biotite, hornblende, plagioclase, orthoclase, quartz, apatite, and titanite. Chemically the dyke rock is alkali basalt with high K₂O/Na₂O and total Fe contents, and low Cr and Ni contents, indicating that it was formed by the differentiation of olivine from a primary alkali basaltic magma derived from the subcontinental mantle. The Rb-Sr mineral isochron age was obtained of 487 ± 15 Ma with Sr_IR = 0.70486 ± 0.00007. Considering that the metamorphic age of the gneisses at Niban Iwa was estimated to be 532 Ma, the dyke probably intruded after metamorphism as part of the post-orogenic igneous activity following the collision of East and West Gondwana.

The 2021 eruption of Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba (FOB), which is a submarine volcano located at the southern end of the Izu-Ogasawara arc, produced a large number of pumice clasts that drifted to many places in the islands of Japan and eastern Asia. Amongst the typical gray pumice clasts, several peculiar clasts have been discovered, such as those with a black coloration and containing mafic enclaves. This study found a mostly bimineralic enclave consisting of plagioclase phenocrysts and an alkali feldspar matrix, with minor cristobalite, TiO₂ minerals (anatase and rutile), and Fe sulfide. The chemical composition of the plagioclase phenocrysts is similar to that reported from the FOB pumice, and the tie line of the alkali feldspar and plagioclase in a Ca-Na-K ternary diagram indicates that they originated from melt extracted from the crystal mush of the FOB magma reservoir. The cristobalite occurs in the voids in the matrix, in which surrounding alkali feldspar compositions changed gradually along the ternary feldspar solvus of ∼850 °C. The formation of a cristobalite-bearing bimineralic enclave can be explained by (1) the melt was extracted and accumulated at the shallow part of the magma reservoir, which crystallized as syenitic rocks; (2) subsequent degassing-related alteration within the volcanic conduit that caused plagioclase breakdown and cristobalite crystallization; and (3) entrainment of the syenitic rock fragment by the nanolite-bearing magma being erupted from the conduit.

The Southern Granulite Terrain of peninsular India consists of a wide range of metamorphic rocks with formation ages that span the late Archean Era to the Cambrian Period. It consists of numerous tectonic blocks dissected by deep crustal-scale shear zones. The Madurai Block is the largest crustal block, comprising Neoarchean to Ediacaran-Cambrian gneisses that include charnockite, hornblende-biotite gneiss, mafic granulite and metapelite, amongst other lesser rock types. This study focuses on the geochemistry of granulite-facies rocks from the western part of the Madurai Block, how these rocks correlate with similar types in other tectonic blocks of the Southern Granulite Terrain, and the implication of such correlations for East Gondwana tectonics. The geochemistry of the various granulite-facies rocks from the western Madurai Block reveals metaluminous to slightly peraluminous, calcic to alkalic, and ferroan to magnesian signatures. Geochemical tectonic discrimination diagrams indicate both A-type granitoid and Cordilleran affinities, consistent with petrogenesis in active continental margin and extensional tectonic settings, with chemical variation also generated through magmatic differentiation. Similar lithological, geochronological and geochemical features have been reported from granulites of the Antananarivo Block of Madagascar, based on which a correlation can be made with the western Madurai Block that predates Gondwana assembly.