Unexpected phase assemblages in inclusions with ternary H2O-salt fluids at low temperatures

Phase assemblages and temperatures of phase changes provide important information about the bulk properties of fluid inclusions, and are typically obtained by microthermometry. Inclusions are synthesized in natural quartz containing an aqueous fluid with a composition in the ternary systems of H₂O-NaCl₂-CaCl₂, H₂O-NaCl-MgCl₂, and H₂O-CaCl₂-MgCl₂. This study reveals that these fluid inclusions may behave highly unpredictably at low temperatures due to the formation of metastable phase assemblages. Eutectic temperatures cannot be detected in most of the fluid inclusions containing these ternary systems. Nucleation of a variety of solid ice and salt-hydrate phases in single fluid inclusions is often partly inhibited. Raman spectroscopy at low temperatures provides an important tool for interpreting and understanding microthermometric experiments, and visualizing stable and metastable phase assemblages. Final dissolution temperatures of ice, salt-hydrates, and salt must be treated with care, as they can only be interpreted by purely empirical or thermodynamic models at stable conditions.