Solubilities of corundum, wollastonite and quartz in H2O-NaCl solutions at 800 °C and 10 kbar: Interaction of simple minerals with brines at high pressure and temperature

Solubilities of corundum (Al₂O₃) and wollastonite (CaSiO₃) were measured in H₂O-NaCl solutions at 800 °C and 10 kbar and NaCl concentrations up to halite saturation by weight-loss methods. Additional data on quartz solubility at a single NaCl concentration were obtained as a supplement to previous work. Single crystals of synthetic corundum, natural wollastonite or natural quartz were equilibrated with H₂O and NaCl at pressure (P) and temperature (T) in a piston-cylinder apparatus with NaCl pressure medium and graphite heater sleeves. The three minerals show fundamentally different dissolution behavior. Corundum solubility undergoes large enhancement with NaCl concentration, rising rapidly from Al₂O₃ molality (m_Al2O3) of 0.0013(1) (1σ error) in pure H₂O and then leveling off to a maximum of ∼0.015 at halite saturation (X_NaCl ≈ 0.58, where X is mole fraction). Solubility enhancement relative to that in pure H₂O, , passes through a maximum at X_NaCl ≈ 0.15 and then declines towards halite saturation. Quenched fluids have neutral pH at 25 °C. Wollastonite has low solubility in pure H₂O at this P and T(m_CaSiO3=0.0167(6)). It undergoes great enhancement, with a maximum solubility relative to that in H₂O at X_NaCl ≈ 0.33, and solubility >0.5 molal at halite saturation. Solute silica is 2.5 times higher than at quartz saturation in the system H₂O-NaCl-SiO₂, and quenched fluids are very basic (pH 11). Quartz shows monotonically decreasing solubility from m_SiO2=1.248 in pure H₂O to 0.202 at halite saturation. Quenched fluids are pH neutral. A simple ideal-mixing model for quartz-saturated solutions that requires as input only the solubility and speciation of silica in pure H₂O reproduces the data and indicates that hydrogen bonding of molecular H₂O to dissolved silica species is thermodynamically negligible. The maxima in for corundum and wollastonite indicate that the solute products include hydrates and Na⁺ and/or Cl⁻ species produced by molar ratios of reactant H₂O to NaCl of 6:1 and 2:1, respectively. Our results imply that quite simple mechanisms may exist in the dissolution of common rock-forming minerals in saline fluids at high P and T and allow assessment of the interaction of simple, congruently soluble rock-forming minerals with brines associated with deep-crustal metamorphism.