Liquid immiscibility and its role at the magmatic–hydrothermal transition: a summary of experimental studies

Several types of fluid immiscibility may affect the evolution of volatile-rich magmatic systems at the magmatic–hydrothermal transition. The topology of silicate–salt–H₂O systems implies that three-fluid immiscibility (silicate melt+hydrosaline melt+vapour) should be stable in a broad range of compositions and P–T conditions. The most important factor controlling the immiscibility appears to be the Coulombic properties (electric charges Z and ionic radii r) of the main network-modifying cations and the capacity for immiscibility appears to decrease in the following sequence: Mg>Ca>Sr>Ba>Li>Na>K. Liquid immiscibility is enhanced in peralkaline compositions and in the presence of nonsilicate anions such as F⁻, Cl⁻, CO₃²⁻ and BO₃³⁻. In volatile-rich magmatic systems, the H₂O is likely to react with the chloride, fluoride, borate and carbonate species and the chemical effects of high-temperature hydrolysis may be greatly enhanced by phase separation in systems with multiple immiscible fluid phases. Natural granitic magmas can thus exsolve a range of chemically and physically diverse hydrosaline liquids and the role of these fluid phases is likely to be especially significant in pegmatites and Li–F rare-metal granites.     

花岗岩类矿床成矿流体形成过程的原位观测实验

花岗岩浆液态不混溶作用和饱和H₂O花岗岩浆的热液出溶作用是花岗岩类矿床成矿流体形成的重要机制。利用最新式热液金刚石压腔,开展了成矿流体形成机制的原位观测实验。在岩浆热液出溶过程的实验中,初始样品为各类硅酸盐和纯H₂O或LiCl水溶液,在H₂O饱和状态中,硅酸盐熔体珠不断分异出富H₂O的流体。花岗岩浆液态不混溶实验的初始样品为NaAlSi₃O₈-LiAlSiO₄-SiO₂-LiCl-H₂O。在硅酸盐完全重熔后的降温过程中,硅酸盐熔体珠分离出富H₂O熔体相和贫H₂O熔体相,压力的突然降低促进了相分离的发生。研究表明：岩浆热液的出溶作用发生在H₂O饱和的条件下,是岩浆的“第二次”沸腾作用,对花岗岩型稀有金属矿床的形成具有重要意义;花岗岩浆液态不混溶产生的富H₂O熔体易于结晶出粗大晶体,暗示岩浆液态不混溶作用可能是一些花岗伟晶岩形成的主要机制。两类成矿流体形成机制实验条件的差异表明,Li是花岗岩浆发生不混溶作用的重要因素。在今后的研究中,应把热液金刚石压腔的原位观测与微束分析技术结合,在高温高压状态下分析成矿元素的迁移和富集规律。     

Silicate-melt inclusions in magmatic rocks: applications to petrology

Silicate-melt inclusions in igneous rocks provide important information on the composition and evolution of magmatic systems. Such inclusions represent accidentally trapped silicate melt (±immiscible H₂O and/or CO₂ fluids) that allow one to follow the evolution of magmas through snapshots, corresponding to specific evolution steps. This information is available on condition that they remained isolated from the enclosing magma after their entrapment. The following steps of investigation are discussed: (a) detailed petrographic studies to characterise silicate-melt inclusion primary characters and posttrapping evolution, including melt crystallisation; (b) high temperature studies to rehomogenise the inclusion content and select chemically representative inclusions: chemical compositions should be compared to relevant phase diagrams.

Silicate-melt inclusion studies allow us to concentrate on specific topics; inclusion studies in early crystallising phases allow the characterisation of primary magmas, while in more differentiated rocks, they unravel the subsequent chemical evolution. The distribution of volatile species (i.e., H₂O, CO₂, S, Cl) in inclusion glass can provide information on the degassing processes and on recycling of subducted material. In intrusive rocks, silicate melt inclusions may preserve direct evidence of magmatic stage evolution (e.g., immiscibility phenomena). Melt inclusions in mantle xenoliths indicate that high-silica melts can coexist with mantle peridotites and give information on the presence of carbonate melt within the upper mantle. Thus, combining silicate-melt inclusion data with conventional petrological and geochemical information and experimental petrology can increase our ability to model magmatic processes.     

Magmatic evolution of Li–F, rare-metal granites: a case study of melt inclusions in the Khangilay complex, Eastern Transbaikalia (Russia)

We report compositions of homogenized quartz-hosted melt inclusions from a layered sequence of Li-, F-rich granites in the Khangilay complex that document the range of melt evolution from barren biotite granites to Ta-rich, lepidolite–amazonite–albite granites. The melt inclusions are crystalline at room temperature and were homogenized in a rapid-quench hydrothermal apparatus at 200 MPa before analysis. Homogenization runs determined solidus temperatures near 550 °C and full homogenization between 650 and 750 °C. The compositions of inclusions, determined by electron microprobe and Raman spectroscopy (for H₂O), show regular overall trends of increasing differentiation from the least-evolved Khangilay units to apical units in the Orlovka intrusion. Total volatile contents in the most-evolved melts reach over 11 wt.% (H₂O: 8.6 wt.%, F: 1.6 wt.%, B₂O₃: 1.5 wt.%). Concentrations of Rb range from about 1000 to 3600 ppm but other trace elements could not be measured reliably by electron microprobe. The resulting trends of melt evolution are similar to those described by the whole-rock samples, despite petrographic evidence for albite- and mica-rich segregations previously taken as evidence for post-magmatic metasomatism.

Melt variation trends in most samples are consistent with fractional crystallization as the main process of magma evolution and residual melt compositions plot at the granite minimum in the normative Qz–Ab–Or system. However, melts trapped in the highly evolved pegmatitic samples from Orlovka deviate from the minimum melt composition and show compositional variations in Al, Na and K that requires a different explanation. We suggest that unmixing of the late-stage residual melt into an aluminosilicate melt and a salt-rich dense aqueous fluid (hydrosaline melt) occurred. Experimental data show the effectiveness of this process to separate K (aluminosilicate melt) from Na (hydrosaline melt) and high mobility of the latter due to its low viscosity and relatively low density may explain local zones of albitization in the upper parts of the granite.     

Experimental investigation of H2O and Cl− solubilities in F-enriched silicate liquids; implications for volatile saturation of topaz rhyolite magmas

To interpret the degassing of F-bearing felsic magmas, the solubilities of H₂O, NaCl, and KCl in topaz rhyolite liquids have been investigated experimentally at 2000, 500, and ≈1 bar and 700° to 975 °C. Chloride solubility in these liquids increases with decreasing H₂O activity, increasing pressure, increasing F content of the liquid from 0.2 to 1.2 wt% F, and increasing the molar ratio of ((Al + Na + Ca + Mg)/Si). Small quantities of Cl⁻ exert a strong influence on the exsolution of magmatic volatile phases (MVPs) from F-bearing topaz rhyolite melts at shallow crustal pressures. Water- and chloride-bearing volatile phases, such as vapor, brine, or fluid, exsolve from F-enriched silicate liquids containing as little as 1 wt% H₂O and 0.2 to 0.6 wt% Cl at 2000 bar compared with 5 to 6 wt% H₂O required for volatile phase exsolution in chloride-free liquids. The maximum solubility of Cl⁻ in H₂O-poor silicate liquids at 500 and 2000 bar is not related to the maximum solubility of H₂O in chloride-poor liquids by simple linear and negative relationships; there are strong positive deviations from ideality in the activities of each volatile in both the silicate liquid and the MVP(s). Plots of H₂O versus Cl⁻ in rhyolite liquids, for experiments conducted at 500 bar and 910°–930 °C, show a distinct 90° break-in-slope pattern that is indicative of coexisting vapor and brine under closed-system conditions. The presence of two MVPs buffers the H₂O and Cl⁻ concentrations of the silicate liquids. Comparison of these experimentally-determined volatile solubilities with the pre-eruptive H₂O and Cl⁻ concentrations of five North American topaz and tin rhyolite melts, determined from melt inclusion compositions, provides evidence for the exsolution of MVPs from felsic magmas. One of these, the Cerro el Lobo magma, appears to have exsolved alkali chloride-bearing vapor plus brine or a single supercritical fluid phase prior to entrapment of the melt inclusions and prior to eruption. Received: 6 November 1995 / Accepted: 29 January 1998     

Liquid immiscibility in deep-seated magmas and the generation of carbonatite melts

This paper reviews the results of investigations of melt inclusions in minerals of carbonatites and spatially associated silicate rocks genetically related to various deep-seated undersaturated silicate magmas of alkaline ultrabasic, alkaline basic, lamproitic, and kimberlitic compositions. The analysis of this direct genetic information showed that all the deep magmas are inherently enriched in volatile components, the most abundant among which are carbon dioxide, alkalis, halides, sulfur, and phosphorus. The volatiles probably initially served as agents of mantle metasomatism and promoted melting in deep magma sources. The derived magmas became enriched in carbon dioxide, alkalis, and other volatile components owing to the crystallization and fractionation of early high-magnesium minerals and gradually acquired the characteristics of carbonated silicate liquids. When critical compositional parameters were reached, the accumulated volatiles catalyzed immiscibility, the magmas became heterogeneous, and two-phase carbonate-silicate liquid immiscibility occurred at temperatures of ≥1280–1250°C. The immiscibility was accompanied by the partitioning of elements: the major portion of fluid components partitioned together with Ca into the carbonate-salt fraction (parental carbonatite melt), and the silicate melt was correspondingly depleted in these components and became more silicic. After spatial separation, the silicate and carbonate-silicate melts evolved independently during slow cooling. Differentiation and fractionation were characteristic of silicate melts. The carbonatite melts became again heterogeneous within the temperature range from 1200 to 800–600°C and separated into immiscible carbonate-salt fractions of various compositions: alkali-sulfate, alkali-phosphate, alkali-fluoride, alkali-chloride, and Fe-Mg-Ca carbonate. In large scale systems, polyphase silicate-carbonate-salt liquid immiscibility is usually manifested during the slow cooling and prolonged evolution of deeply derived melts in the Earth’s crust. It may lead to the formation of various types of intrusive carbonatites: widespread calcite-dolomite and rare alkali-sulfate, alkali-phosphate, and alkali-halide rocks. The initial alkaline carbonatite melts can retain their compositions enriched in P, S, Cl, and F only at rapid eruption followed by instantaneous quenching.     

The effect of water on accessory phase solubility in subaluminous and peralkaline granitic melts

The solubilities of columbite, tantalite, wolframite, rutile, zircon and hafnon were determined as a function of the water contents in peralkaline and subaluminous granite melts. All experiments were conducted at 1035 °C and 2 kbar and the water contents of the melts ranged from nominally dry to approximately 6 wt.% H₂O. Accessory phase solubilities are not affected by the water content of the peralkaline melt. By contrast, solubilities are affected by the water content of the subaluminous melt, where the solubilities of all the accessory phases examined increase with the water content of the melt, up to 2 wt.% H₂O. At higher water contents, solubilities are nearly constant. It can be concluded that water is not an important control of accessory phase solubility, although the water content will affect diffusivities of components in the melt, thus whether or not accessory phases will be present as restite material. The solubility behaviour in the subaluminous and peralkaline melts supports previous spectroscopic studies, which have observed differences in the coordination of high field strength elements in dry vs. wet subaluminous granitic glasses, but not for peralkaline granitic glasses. Lastly, the fact that wolframite solubility increases with increasing water content in the subaluminous melt suggests that tungsten dissolved as a hexavalent species.     

Implications of experimental petrology to the evolution of ultrapotassic rocks

The contributions of experimental studies pertinent to ultrapotassic rocks of Groups I (lamproites) and II (kamafugites and related rocks) are discussed in terms of synthetic systems, ultrapotassic rock compositions, experiments on characteristic minerals in these rocks and experiments designed to model mantle metasomatism. These studies indicate that the majority of ultrapotassic magmas are derived by partial melting of a metasomatically enriched mantle source at depths of 100 km or greater, and under fluid conditions represented by the C---O---H system with fluorine that may be reduced or oxidized relative to other compositions. Many lamproitic magmas may be derived from a phlogopite-harzburgite with volatiles that are predominantly H₂O and F₁ whereas kamafugitic type ultrapotassic magmas may be products of partial melts of a more wehrlitic mantle source in which the main volatiles are H₂O, CO₂ and possibly F. Experimental and theoretical considerations of mantle metasomatism suggest that it occurs at of f_O2 in the range of the FMQ buffer. Metasomatism involves low density mantle fluids (melts?) in which H₂O and CO₂ are the important volatiles, buffered by amphibole, phlogopite and carbonates. Results of recent experiments suggest that the reactions causing metasomatism may be decoupled and cyclic and occur at different depths.     

Derivation of potassic (shoshonitic) magmas by decompression melting of phlogopite+pargasite lherzolite

A model metasomatized lherzolite composition contains phlogopite and pargasite, together with olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel or garnet as subsolidus phases to 3 GPa. Previous works established that at ≥1.5 GPa, phlogopite is stable above the dehydration solidus, determined by the melting behaviour of pargasite and coexisting phases. At 2.8 GPa, melts with residual phlogopite+garnet lherzolite mineralogy at 1195 °C and with garnet lherzolite mineralogy at 1250 °C are both olivine nephelinite with K/Na (atomic)=0.51 and K/Na=0.65, respectively. Recent work shows that melting along the dehydration (fluid-absent) solidus of the phlogopite+pargasite lherzolite at pressures <1.5 GPa is very different with the presence of phlogopite, decreasing the solidus below that of pargasite lherzolite. At 1.0 GPa, both phlogopite and pargasite disappear at temperatures at or slightly above the solidus. The compositions of two melts at 1.0 GPa, 1075 °C (with different water contents), in equilibrium with residual spinel lherzolite mineralogy are silica-saturated trachyandesite (5% melt fraction, 3% H₂O) to silica-oversaturated basaltic andesite (8% melt fraction, 4.5% H₂O). Both compositions may be classified as ‘shoshonites’ on the basis of normative compositions, silica-saturation, and K/Na ratio. Decompression melting of metasomatized lithospheric lherzolite with minor phlogopite and pargasite may produce primary ‘shoshonitic’ magmas by dehydration melting at 1 GPa, 1050–1150 °C. Such magmas may be parental to Proterozoic batholithic syenites occurring in Brazil.     

Partitioning behavior of chlorine and fluorine in the system apatite-melt-fluid. II: Felsic silicate systems at 200 MPa

Hydrothermal experiments were conducted to determine the partitioning of Cl between rhyolitic to rhyodacitic melts, apatite, and aqueous fluid(s) and the partitioning of F between apatite and these melts at ca. 200 MPa and 900-924 °C. The number of fluid phases in our experiments is unknown; they may have involved a single fluid or vapor plus saline liquid. The partitioning behavior of Cl between apatite and melt is non-Nernstian and is a complex function of melt composition and the Cl concentration of the system. Values of D_Cl^apat/melt (wt. fraction of: Cl in apatite/Cl in melt) vary from 1 to 4.5 and are largest when the Cl concentrations of the melt are at or near the Cl-saturation value of the melt. The Cl-saturation concentrations of silicate melts are lowest in evolved, silica-rich melts, so with elevated Cl concentrations in a system and with all else equal, the maximum values of D_Cl^apat/melt occur with the most felsic melt. In contrast, values of D_F^apat/melt range from 11 to 40 for these felsic melts, and many of these are an order of magnitude greater than those applying to basaltic melts at 200 MPa and 1066-1150 °C. The Cl concentration of apatite is a simple and linear function of the concentration of Cl in fluid. Values of D_Cl^fluid/apat for these experiments range from 9 to 43, and some values are an order of magnitude greater than those determined in 200-MPa experiments involving basaltic melts at 1066-1150 °C.In order to determine the concentrations and interpret the behavior of volatile components in magmas, the experimental data have been applied to the halogen concentrations of apatite grains from chemically evolved rocks of Augustine volcano, Alaska; Krakatau volcano, Indonesia; Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines; Mt. St. Helens, Washington; Mt. Mazama, Oregon; Lascar volcano, Chile; Santorini volcano, Greece, and the Bishop Tuff, California. The F concentrations of these magmas estimated from apatite-melt equilibria range from 0.06 to 0.12 wt% and are generally equivalent to the concentrations of F determined in the melt inclusions. In contrast, the Cl concentrations of the magmas estimated from apatite-melt equilibria (e.g., ca. 0.3-0.9 wt%) greatly exceed those determined in the melt inclusions from all of these volcanic systems except for the Bishop Tuff where the agreement is good. This discrepancy in estimated Cl concentrations of melt could result from several processes, including the hypothesis that the composition of apatite represents a comparatively Cl-enriched stage of magma evolution that precedes melt inclusion entrapment prior to the sequestration of Cl by coexisting magmatic aqueous and/or saline fluid(s).     

Immiscibility between silicate magmas and aqueous fluids: a melt inclusion pursuit into the magmatic-hydrothermal transition in the Omsukchan Granite (NE Russia)

Exsolution (unmixing) of the volatile element-rich phases from cooling and crystallising silicate magmas is critical for element transport from the Earth’s interior into the atmosphere, hydrosphere, crustal hydrothermal systems, and the formation of orthomagmatic ore deposits. Unmixing is an inherently fugitive phenomenon and melt inclusions (droplets of melt trapped by minerals) provide robust evidence of this process. In this study, melt inclusions in phenocrystic and miarolitic quartz were studied to better understand immiscibility in the final stages of cooling of, and volatile exsolution from, granitic magmas, using the tin-bearing Omsukchan Granite (NE Russia) as an example.

Primary magmatic inclusions in quartz phenocrysts demonstrate the coexistence of silicate melt and magma-derived Cl-rich fluids (brine and vapour), and emulsions of these, during crystallisation of the granite magma. Microthermometric experiments, in conjunction with PIXE and other analytical techniques, disclose extreme heterogeneity in the composition of the non-silicate phases, even in fluid globules within the same silicate melt inclusion. We suggest that the observed variability is a consequence of strong chemical heterogeneity in the residual silicate-melt/brine/vapour system on a local scale, owing to crystallisation, immiscibility and failure of individual phases to re-equilibrate. The possible evolution of non-silicate volatile magmatic phases into more typical “hydrothermal” chloride solutions was examined using inclusions in quartz from associated miarolitic cavities.     

再论中国大陆斑岩Cu-Mo-Au矿床成矿作用

本文在综述斑岩铜矿(PCDs)最新研究进展基础上,结合最新资料,重点阐释了中国大陆非弧环境PCDs的地球动力学背景、成矿岩浆起源、岩浆-流体系统演化、成矿金属(Cu,Au,Mo)和H₂O来源及富集过程。中国大型PCDs除少量产于岩浆弧外,主要产于碰撞造山环境的构造转换和地壳伸展阶段、陆内造山环境的岩石圈伸展和崩塌阶段以及活化克拉通的边缘及内部。这些非弧环境成矿斑岩多呈彼此孤立的近等间距分布的岩株或岩瘤产出,以高钾为特征,显示埃达克岩地球化学亲和性。成矿岩浆主要起源于加厚的镁铁质新生下地壳或拆沉的古老下地壳,少数起源于遭受早期俯冲板片流体/熔体交代改造过的富集地幔。大陆碰撞和陆内俯冲引起的地壳大规模增厚和紧随其后的板片撕裂、断离、岩石圈拆沉和软流圈上涌,是形成这些成矿岩浆的主要动力机制。与岩浆弧环境斑岩类似,非弧环境斑岩也相对富水(>4%H₂O)和高f(O₂)值(ΔFMQ≥+2),但H₂O不是来自俯冲板片,而是主要来自新生下地壳的角闪石分解或/和幔源富水超钾质岩浆水注入;金属Cu(Au)主要来自新生的镁铁质下地壳中含Cu硫化物的熔融分解,或者来自拆沉下地壳熔体与金属再富集的地幔岩反应,而金属Mo则主要来自具有高Mo丰度的大陆地壳。不论在岩浆弧还是非弧环境,成矿岩浆通常相对富集成矿金属(Cu,Au,Mo),但PCDs的形成并不要求成矿岩浆在初始阶段就异常富集金属组分,但要求金属硫化物相在岩浆流体出溶前没有从岩浆中饱和分离。浅成侵位的斑岩体(1~6 km)虽然可以出溶成矿流体,但大型PCDs通常要求成矿流体出溶自深部(侵位深度≥6 km)、有镁铁质岩浆持续补给的稳定大体积岩浆房。斑岩体可以分凝出不混溶的低盐度的气相和高盐度的液相,岩浆房则直接出溶出高温低盐度的富金属超临界流体。高盐度液相和低密度的超临界气相流体均可以迁移金属,伴随大规模热液蚀变,形成PCDs。     

Solubility of Au in Cl- and S-bearing hydrous silicate melts

The solubility of Au in Cl- and S-bearing hydrous rhyodacitic and andesitic melts has been experimentally investigated at 1050 °C, 200 MPa and log fO₂ close to the Ni/NiO solid oxygen buffer (NNO). The concentrations of Au in the experimental glasses have been determined using Laser Ablation ICP-MS (LA) with special efforts to avoid incorporation of Au micronuggets in the analysis. It is concluded that metal micronuggets are an experimental artefact and produced by Au partitioning into the fluids during heating with consequent precipitation on fluid dissolution in the melting glass powder. Hence, the micronuggets do not represent quench phases and must be excluded from the analysis. The micro-analytical data obtained by LA show that Au concentrations vary from ∼0.2 to ∼2.5 ppm by weight, generally consistent with the literature data for other melt compositions. The measured Au concentrations increase with increasing amounts of Cl and S dissolved in the silicate melt and show a correlation with the apparent activities of Cl and S in the system. The apparent activities of Cl and S are defined by the simplified linear relationship between volatile concentrations in the melt and activity of volatiles. The maximum activity (a^∗ = 1) is assumed to be reached at the saturation of the systems in respect of Cl-rich brine or FeS liquid for Cl and S, respectively. The dependence of Au solubility on the concentrations/activities of Cl and S at the fixed redox conditions shows that Au may form not only oxide- but also Cl- and S-bearing complexes in silicate melts. Furthermore, it indicates that exsolution of S and Cl from the melt by degassing/segregation/crystallization processes may lead to mobilization and extraction of Au into the fluid, liquid and/or mineral phase(s).     

岩浆熔体包裹体研究进展

近现代对于熔体包裹体的研究已经有50余年,但它们在反映岩浆系统特征方面的价值是直至最近10~15年间才逐渐被火山学家、岩石学家和包裹体学者所意识到。熔体包裹体的研究结果之所以难以被接受主要有以下几个因素:1)缺乏可靠的分析技术;2)熔体包裹体捕获后会发生一系列的变化;3)包裹体中熔体存在不均匀的现象;4)较高的均一温度,很难测定。但随着分析方法的改进和熔体包裹体的系统研究,学者们逐渐确定了熔体包裹体在解开岩浆系统复杂性方面的实用性,可以这么说"熔体包裹体的研究正值当年"。例如:现代的研究提供了岩浆中溶解和出溶的挥发分含量的不可否认的证据,并且从熔体包裹体中得到的气相、盐类卤水和岩浆不混溶信息证明岩浆的相分离远比从结晶相图中推论得到的要复杂得多;包裹体岩相学已详细地描绘了熔体包裹体捕获之后经历的特定变化——结晶,挥发分的扩散,气相出溶,以及泄露等。因此,如果有细致的包裹体岩相学的观察以及精确的测试分析,那么,从熔体包裹体中得到的成分数据是有用且可靠的。     

The behavior of chlorine and sulfur during differentiation of the Mt. Somma-Vesuvius magmatic system

Summary Reheated silicate melt inclusions in volcanic rock samples from Mt. Somma-Vesuvius, Italy, have been analyzed for 29 constituents including H₂O, S, Cl, F, B, and P₂O₅. This composite volcano consists of the older Mt. Somma caldera, formed between 14 and 3.55 ka before present, and the younger Vesuvius cone. The melt inclusion compositions provide important constraints on pre-eruptive magma geochemistry, identify relationships that relate to eruption behavior and magma evolution, and provide extensive evidence for magmatic fluid exsolution well before eruption. The melt inclusion data have been categorized by groups that reflect magma compositions, age, and style of eruptions. The data show distinct differences in composition for eruptive products older than 14.0 ka (pre-caldera rocks) versus eruptive products younger than 3.55 ka. Moreover, pre-caldera eruptions were associated with magmas relatively enriched in SiO₂, whereas eruptions younger than 3.55 ka (i.e., the syn- and post-caldera magmas which generated the Somma caldera and the Vesuvius cone) were derived from magmas comparatively enriched in S, Cl, CaO, MgO, P₂O₅, F, and many lithophile trace elements. Melt inclusion data indicate that eruptive behavior at Vesuvius correlates with pre-eruptive volatile enrichments. Most magmas associated with explosive plinian and subplinian events younger than 3.55 ka contained more H₂O, contained significantly more S, and exhibited higher (S/Cl) ratios than syn- and post-caldera magmas which erupted during relatively passive interplinian volcanic phenomena. Received January 10, 2000 Revised version accepted July 17, 2000     

吉林蛟河上地幔岩碎块内熔融微区矿物学及其地质意义

吉林蛟河地幔岩碎块是被碱性橄榄玄武岩岩浆喷发携带至地壳浅部或地表的。碱性橄榄玄武岩中地幔岩碎块含量40%~55%,局部达60%以上;碎块大小不等,一般直径以5~10 cm居多,大者达20~35 cm,故定名为地幔岩集块熔岩(岩流)。地幔岩碎块以尖晶石二辉橄榄岩和尖晶石斜辉橄榄岩碎块为主,纯橄榄岩次之,未发现石榴石橄榄岩;胶结物为碱性橄榄玄武岩岩浆。本次研究发现地幔岩内存在丰富的、不同成分和形态的熔融微区。熔融微区类型以其形状可分为滴状、扇状、球状、不规则状、短脉状和环边状,以其特征新生矿物分为OL型、K型、Na+Chl型、PL型、OL+SP型、C+SP型和SP+Chl+Ser型。熔融微区结构为玻基间隐结构或放射状结构;矿物呈骸晶状、中空为玻璃质;残余玻璃脱玻化,产生少量针状和不透明黑色雏晶。熔融微区的形状、结构、物质组成及矿物结晶等特征具有标型性,表征这些熔融体是在上地幔深度保存的幔源岩熔融交代的产物,幔源结晶岩是固相残留。该幔源岩经历强火山喷发使其发生爆炸的地质事件,导致K、Na、Al、Ca易熔组分和H₂O、CO₂等挥发分开始熔融和气体释放,营造快速固化结晶和淬火的环境。这些少量的熔融物择优占据矿物间隙、裂隙、位错或晶体缺陷处汇聚并熔融交代相邻矿物,不断扩展空间,遂形成滴状等特征形状的“微区”。由于熔融程度不同,产生的熔融物的化学成分和结晶程度也有差异,所代表的初始岩浆性质也不一样,可以是超基性或碱性橄榄玄武质,抑或碧玄岩质岩浆。从检测出的这些信息证实,蛟河地幔岩是被不一致熔融抽取后的地幔残留,即岩石圈地幔。     

Conditions of pocket formation in the Oktyabrskaya tourmaline-rich gem pegmatite (the Malkhan field, Central Transbaikalia, Russia)

Coexisting melt (MI), fluid-melt (FMI) and fluid (FI) inclusions in quartz from the Oktaybrskaya pegmatite, central Transbaikalia, have been studied and the thermodynamic modeling of PVTX-properties of aqueous orthoboric-acid fluids has been carried out to define the conditions of pocket formation. At room temperature, FMI in early pocket quartz and in quartz from the coarse-grained quartz–oligoclase host pegmatite contain crystalline aggregates and an orthoboric-acid fluid. The portion of FMI in inclusion assemblages decreases and the volume of fluid in inclusions increases from the early to the late growth zones in the pocket quartz. No FMI have been found in the late growth zones. Significant variations of solid/fluid ratios in the neighboring FMI result from heterogeneous entrapment of coexisting melts and fluids by a host mineral. Raman spectroscopy, SEM EDS and EMPA indicate that the crystalline aggregates in FMI are dominated by mica minerals of the boron-rich muscovite–nanpingite CsAl₂[AlSi₃O₁₀](OH,F)₂ series as well as lepidolite. Topaz, quartz, potassium feldspar and several unidentified minerals occur in much lower amounts. Fluid isolations in FMI and FI have similar total salinity (4–8 wt.% NaCl eq.) and H₃BO₃ contents (12–16 wt.%). The melt inclusions in host-pegmatite quartz homogenize at 570–600 °C. The silicate crystalline aggregates in large inclusions in pocket quartz completely melt at 615 °C. However, even after those inclusions were significantly overheated at 650±10 °C and 2.5 kbar during 24 h they remained non-homogeneous and displayed two types: (i) glass+unmelted crystals and (ii) fluid+glass. The FMI glasses contain 1.94–2.73 wt.% F, 2.51 wt.% B₂O₃, 3.64–5.20 wt.% Cs₂O, 0.54 wt.% Li₂O, 0.57 wt.% Ta₂O₅, 0.10 wt.% Nb₂O₅, 0.12 wt.% BeO. The H₂O content of the glass could exceed 12 wt.%. Such compositions suggest that the residual melts of the latest magmatic stage were strongly enriched in H₂O, B, F, Cs and contained elevated concentrations of Li, Be, Ta, and Nb. FMI microthermometry showed that those melts could have crystallized at 615–550 °C.

Crystallization of quartz–feldspar pegmatite matrix leads to the formation of H₂O-, B- and F-enriched residual melts and associated fluids (prototypes of pockets). Fluids of different compositions and residual melts of different liquidus–solidus P–T-conditions would form pockets with various internal fluid pressures. During crystallization, those melts release more aqueous fluids resulting in a further increase of the fluid pressure in pockets. A significant overpressure and a possible pressure gradient between the neighboring pockets would induce fracturing of pockets and “fluid explosions”. The fracturing commonly results in the crushing of pocket walls, formation of new fractures connecting adjacent pockets, heterogenization and mixing of pocket fluids. Such newly formed fluids would interact with a primary pegmatite matrix along the fractures and cause autometasomatic alteration, recrystallization, leaching and formation of “primary–secondary” pockets.     

Fluid and melt inclusion evidence for the origin of idiomorphic quartz crystals in topaz-bearing granite from the Salmi batholith, Karelia, Russia

Idiomorphic quartz crystals in topaz-bearing granite from the Salmi batholith contain primary inclusions of silicate melt and abundant mostly secondary aqueous fluid inclusions. Microthermometric measurements on melt inclusions give estimates for the granite solidus and liquidus of 640–680°C and 770–830°C, respectively. Using published solubility models for H₂O in granitic melts and the obtained solidus/liquidus temperatures from melt inclusions, the initial water concentration of the magma is deduced to have been approximately 3 wt.% and the minimum pressure about 2 kbar. At this initial stage, volatile-undersaturation conditions of magma were assumed. These results indicate that the idiomorphic quartz crystals are magmatic in origin and thus real phenocrysts. During subsolidus cooling and fracturing of the granite, several generations of aqueous fluid inclusions were trapped into the quartz phenocrysts. The H₂O inclusions have salinities and densities of 1–41 wt.% NaCl eq. and 0.53–1.18 g/cm³, respectively.     

The magmatic to hydrothermal transition and its bearing on ore-forming systems

The exsolution of volatile phases from silicate magmas controls physical and chemical magma properties and influences large-scale geologic phenomena and processes having major societal and economic implications including the release of climate-altering gases to the atmosphere, the explosivity of volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal alteration, and the generation of magmatic–hydrothermal mineralization. These volatile phases exsolve from a wide variety of magmas and cover a very broad spectrum of compositions.

The transition from the orthomagmatic to the hydrothermal stages has important bearing on these fundamentally important geologic phenomena, and this report summarizes the published results of a dozen scientific investigations on the magmatic–hydrothermal transition as applied to volcanic eruption and magmatic–hydrothermal mineralization. These studies involve a variety of analytical and experimental methodologies, and many focus on fluid and melt inclusions from mineralized magmatic systems. A primary goal of each study is to better understand the role of magmatic volatiles and the importance of the magmatic–hydrothermal transition on these geologic processes.     

Deep differentiation of alkali ultramafic magmas: Formation of carbonatite melts

The study of melt microinclusions in olivine megacrysts from meimechites and alkali picrites of the Maimecha–Kotui alkali ultramafic and carbonatite province (Polar Siberia) revealed that the melt compositions corrected for loss of olivine due to post-entrapment crystallization of olivine on inclusion walls (differentiates of primary meimechite magma) match well to the composition of nephelinites and olivine melilitites belonging to carbonatite magmatic series. Modeling of fractional crystallization of meimechite magmas results in the high-alkali melt compositions corresponding to the silicate–carbonate liquid immiscibility field. The appearance of volatile-rich melts at the base of magma-generating plume systems at early stages of partial melting can be explained by extraction of incompatible elements including volatiles, by near-solidus melts at low degrees of partial melting, and meimechites are an example of such magmas. Subsequent accumulation of CO₂ in the residual melt results in generation of carbonate magma.