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Garnet is an important phase in various technological applications and in nature as a major rock-forming mineral. The geological occurrence of silicate garnets is widespread and they are stable over an enormous range of rock compositions and pressure and temperature conditions. They are found in low-pressure metamorphic contact aureoles and they occur as complex solid solutions in the Earth's transition zone. Therefore, over the years a large amount of mineralogical, geochemical and mineral physics research has been directed toward garnet. It is, for example, a key mineral in many geochemical trace-element studies concerned with melting in the deep Earth, and in geophysical investigations of the upper mantle and transition zone its physical properties are of importance. In petrologic studies the thermodynamic mixing properties of garnet solid solutions play a central role in many geothermometers and geobarometers. The end-member aluminosilicate garnets [X3Al2Si3O12 with X = Fe2+ (almandine – Al), Mn2+ (spessartine – Sp), Mg (pyrope – Py), and Ca (grossular – Gr)] and their solid solutions (Fig. 1) have received much study regarding their structural, physical, chemical and thermodynamic properties (for a review of the latter see Geiger, 1999). However, there is no comprehensive review article related to their structural, crystal chemical and lattice dynamic properties, and there have been no attempts made to bring together and analyse the rich and diverse literature on spectroscopic investigations. This is the goal of this article.

Various spectroscopic measurements on aluminosilicate garnets covering the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum will be reviewed and an attempt will be made to reach a broad synthesis.

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