Defining the Hydrous Petrogenetic Grid: Experimental Constraints on Primitive Hydrous Magmas

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

The study of volcanoes, including the processes in the earth that give rise to them, is an important part of earth sciences. This often awe-inspiring geologic process often disrupts human activity such as airline flights, and sometimes threatens the lives of the millions of people that live near volcanic centers. Therefore, there is much at stake that depends on our knowledge and understanding of this potentially deadly phenomenon. One important aspect of volcanoes that occur in arcs at destructive plate boundaries (known as subduction zones) is the role that volatile components such as H2O and CO2 play in the original melting of rock at high pressure and temperature. This melting process forms the magmas (molten rock and crystal mixtures) that are eventually erupted at the surface as lavas. It is well known that H2O and CO2 influence the initial melting temperature of the source rocks of volcanoes, determine the physical properties of the resulting magma (such as its density and viscosity), and fuel explosive eruptions (gas expansion). This project is focused on the influence of these volatile components on the chemistry of the melting process in the Earth's mantle. The knowledge gleaned from this project will help constrain the origins of the magmas that form volcanic arcs, their initial H2O and CO2 contents, and will contribute to our overall understanding of the processes that create volcanoes. The particular question that will be addressed by this experimental study is the influence of H2O on the silica activity of melts at mantle conditions. While it has been experimentally observed that mantle melts formed under hydrous conditions contain significantly higher silica contents, and melt at significantly lower temperatures, the fundamental relationships remain poorly constrained by experimental data. As a complement to existing constraints, this study will use experiments over a range of compositions (mafic to intermediate) to systematically measure how P, T, and variable fluid (H2O-CO2) composition influence the silica activity. The resulting data will enable a thermodynamic analysis showing the range of hydrous melts that could have been in equilibrium with the upper mantle, and thus will clarify the role (or the lack thereof) of H2O in the generation of primitive melts.