(received ; accepted ) PACS. 62.50+p -High Pressure. PACS. 61.10−i -X-ray diffraction. PACS. 61.10Lx -X-ray absorption spectroscopy.Abstract. -Combined X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments have been carried out on α − GaAsO4 (berlinite structure) at high pressure and room temperature. XAS measurements indicate four-fold to six-fold coordination changes for both cations. The two local coordination transformations occur at different rates but appear to be coupled. A reversible transition to a high pressure crystalline form occurs around 8 GPa. At a pressure of about 12 GPa, the system mainly consists of octahedral gallium atoms and a mixture of arsenic in four-fold and six-fold coordinations. A second transition to a highly disordered material with both cations in six-fold coordination occurs at higher pressures and is irreversible.Introduction. -The mineral quartz (α − SiO 2 ) and its ordered AlP O 4 (berlinite) analogue form archetypal tetrahedral framework structures taken by many compounds (GeO 2 , GaP O 4 , GaAsO 4 , AlAsO 4 ) which exhibit phase transformations under high pressure. At room temperature, the kinetics of these pressure-induced transitions are slow and metastable crystal-to-crystal (C-C) transitions or pressure-induced amorphization (PIA) processes are observed [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The room temperature compression behaviour and PIA of α − GeO 2 was studied previously by X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) [7]. The results showed that the germanium coordination rises from four to six through the high pressure transformation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations [8,9,10,11,12,13,6,14] on SiO 2 quartz indicate that the PIA is also associated with a coordination change.In the case of quartz-like berlinites, it was first thought that α − AlP O 4 exhibited the same room temperature and high pressure behaviour as quartz, and underwent PIA at 15 GPa