Electrical conductivity of magmatic liquids: effects of temperature,oxygen fugacity and composition

The effects of temperature, f_O2 and composition on the electrical conductivity of silicate liquids have been experimentally determined from 1200 to 1550°C under a range of f_O2 conditions sufficient to change the oxidation state of Fe from predominantly Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺. Oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron in the melt has no measurable effect on the conductivity of melts with relatively low ratios of divalent to univalent cations. Under strongly oxidizing conditions a minor decrease of conductivity is detected inth highΣM²/ΣM⁺ ratios. It is concluded that for purposes of estimating the conductivity of magmatic liquids, f_O2 may be ignored to a first approximation. Both univalent and divalent cation transport is involved in electrical conduction. Melts relying heavily on divalent cations for conduction, i.e. melts with relatively large ΣM²⁺/ΣM⁺ ratios, show strong departures from Arrheenius temperature dependence with the apparent activation energies decreasing steadily as the temperature increases. Conductivities dominated by the univalent cations, in melts with relatively small ΣM²⁺/ΣM⁺ ratios, show classical Arrhenius temperature dependence. These observations are discussed in terms of the general characteristics of the melt structure.Compositional variations within the magmatic range account for much less than an order of magnitude variation in electrical conductivity at a fixed temperature. This observation, combined with previous measurements of the conductivity of olivine (A. Duba, H.C. Heard and R. Schock, 1974) make it possible to state with reasonable confidence that melts occurring within the mantle will be more conductive by 3–4 orders of magnitude than their refractory residues. Potential applications to geothermometry are discussed.