Estimation of the depth of origin of basic magmas: A modified thermodynamic approach and a comparison with experimental melting studies

Thermodynamic calculations, modified after Nicholls et al. (1971), which relate the activity of silica in a lava to the temperature and pressure conditions at which the lava could be in equilibrium with a mantle mineral assemblage, have been extended to H₂O-bearing magmas by using published experimental data to derive the dependence of on the weight fraction of H₂O dissolved in a magma. A petrogenetic grid has been calculated which gives the P-T conditions under which a magma with a given at its liquidus at 1 atm could equilibrate with a mantle mineral assemblage containing olivine (ol) and orthopyroxene (opx) for different amounts of H₂O in the magma at its source. This grid is in good agreement with the results of experimental studies as summarized by Green (1971) and Brey and Green (1975). The results show that the pressure at which a given magma composition can equilibrate with ol + opx increases for increasing amounts of H₂O dissolved in the magma at depth.In addition, experimental data have been used to calculate the effect of olivine crystallization and removal on the in the residual liquid to assess the effect of low-pressure differentiation on . The results show that if 20 % olivine is added to a basalt magma, its calculated pressure of equilibration with ol+opx increases by 4–5 kbar for a given temperature. The calculated effects of olivine removal and H₂O addition on are reasonably consistent with the silicate mixing model of Burnham (1975).Thermodynamic calculations of this type may be useful for assessing the internal consistency of certain experimental data, and in extrapolating the results to other magma compositions. The application of these calculations to determining the possible depth of origin of natural lavas appears to be limited primarily by the difficulty in determining in a lava at its liquidus temperature.