Ida Di Carlo

Generation of CO2-rich melts during basalt magma ascent and degassing

AbstractTo test mechanisms of basaltic magma degassing, continuous decompressions of volatile-bearing (2.7–3.8 wt% H2O, 600–1,300xa0ppm CO2) Stromboli melts were performed from 250–200 to 50–25xa0MPa at 1,180–1,140xa0°C. Ascent rates were varied from 0.25 to ~1.5xa0m/s. Glasses after decompression show a wide range of textures, from totally bubble-free to bubble-rich, the latter with bubble number densities from 104 to 106xa0cm−3, similar to Stromboli pumices. Vesicularities range from 0 to ~20 vol%. Final melt H2O concentrations are homogeneous and always close to solubilities. In contrast, the rate of vesiculation controls the final melt CO2 concentration. High vesicularity charges have glass CO2 concentrations that follow theoretical equilibrium degassing paths, whereas glasses from low vesicularity charges show marked deviations from equilibrium, with CO2 concentrations up to one order of magnitude higher than solubilities. FTIR profiles and maps reveal glass CO2 concentration gradients near the gas–melt interface. Our results stress the importance of bubble nucleation and growth, and of volatile diffusivities, for basaltic melt degassing. Two characteristic distances, the gas interface distance (distance either between bubbles or to gas–melt interfaces) and the volatile diffusion distance, control the degassing process. Melts containing numerous and large bubbles have gas interface distances shorter than volatile diffusion distances, and degassing proceeds by equilibrium partitioning of CO2 and H2O between melt and gas bubbles. For melts where either bubble nucleation is inhibited or bubble growth is limited, gas interface distances are longer than volatile diffusion distances. Degassing proceeds by diffusive volatile transfer at the gas–melt interface and is kinetically limited by the diffusivities of volatiles in the melt. Our experiments show that CO2-oversaturated melts can be generated as a result of magma decompression. They provide a new explanation for the occurrence of CO2-rich natural basaltic glasses and open new perspectives for understanding explosive basaltic volcanism.n

Petrography, mineralogy and geochemistry of a primitive pumice from Stromboli: implications for the deep feeding system

We describe the field relations, petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of an exceptional “ golden ” pumice belonging to a tephra layer exposed on the summit area of Stromboli volcano, Italy. Pumice sample PST-9 comes from a fallout deposit older than a spatter agglutinate sequence emplaced during the twentieth century. The eruption that produced it had a size exceeding that of intermediate paroxysms but was smaller than large-scale, spatter-forming, paroxysms from the sixteenth century and 1930 A.D. Lapilli are strongly vesicular and crystal-poor, similar to other “ golden ” pumices. Modal proportions include 89 vol% glass, 8 vol% clinopyroxene, 1–2 vol% olivine and 1–2 vol% plagioclase. Plagioclase is represented by reacted crystals coming from the shallow resident magma and incorporated in the pumice during eruption. A total of 74 and 44 crystals of olivine and clinopyroxene, respectively, were examined and 187 and 99 electron microprobe analyses obtained. Fo in olivine ranges between 70 and 92 mol% and Fs in clinopyroxene between 3 and 13 mol%. PST-9 hosts a higher proportion of Fo-rich olivine and Fs-poor clinopyroxene than the other “ golden ” pumices. Groundmass glasses are basaltic (Mg# = 66–69), as are most rim glasses around olivine and clinopyroxene, and glass inclusions in clinopyroxene. They are more primitive than in the other “ golden ” pumices. A few rim glasses and glass inclusions are shoshonitic (Mg# = 45–50). Most glass inclusions in olivine have CaO/Al 2 O 3 higher than the other glasses and the whole-rock. PST-9 has the highest bulk MgO, CaO, Mg# and CaO/Al 2 O 3 and the lowest FeO t of all “ golden ” pumices analysed to date. Analysis of Fe-Mg partitioning between olivine, clinopyroxene and melt allows three crystallization stages to be recognized. The first involves primitive mantle-derived melts (Mg# = 74–80), the second basaltic melts represented by groundmass glasses and the third is associated with more evolved melts represented by the shoshonitic glasses. The population of crystals in “ golden ” pumices is heterogeneous not only because of crystal incorporation from the shallow resident magma, but also because of pre-eruptive recharge of the deep reservoir with primitive melts. Differences between PST-9 and the other “ golden ” pumices in terms of groundmass glass composition and distribution of olivine and clinopyroxene compositions reflect contrasted replenishment rates of the deep reservoir with primitive liquids. Gabbroic inclusions in a clinopyroxene crystal provide a direct illustration of melt wall-rock interaction and stress the variability of the deep reservoir in terms of temperature, crystallinity and phase assemblages. Deep crystallization of plagioclase should be considered as a possibility at Stromboli. PST-9 is exceptionally well representative of the early magmatic evolution of “ golden ” pumices.

A Raman calibration for the quantification of SO42– groups dissolved in silicate glasses: Application to natural melt inclusions

Abstract Sulfur is an important volatile element involved in magmatic systems. Its quantification in silicate glasses relies on state-of-the-art techniques such as electronprobe microanalyses (EPMA) or X-ray absorption spectroscopy but is often complicated by the fact that S dissolved in silicate glasses can adopt several oxidation states (S6+ for sulfates or S2− for sulfides). In the present work, we use micro-Raman spectroscopy on a series of silicate glasses to quantify the S content. The database is constituted by 47 silicate glasses of various compositions (natural and synthetic) with S content ranging from 1179 to 13 180 ppm. Most of the investigated glasses have been synthesized at high pressure and high temperature and under fully oxidizing conditions. The obtained Raman spectra are consistent with these fO2 conditions and only S6+ is present and shows a characteristic peak located at ~1000 cm−1 corresponding to the symmetric stretch of the sulfate molecular group (ν1 SO42−

Phase Equilibria of Pantelleria Trachytes (Italy): Constraints on Pre-eruptive Conditions and on the Metaluminous to Peralkaline Transition in Silicic Magmas

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Experimental Crystallization of a High-K Arc Basalt: the Golden Pumice, Stromboli Volcano (Italy)

). The intensity of the ν1 SO42−

Phase Equilibrium Constraints on Pre-eruptive Conditions of Recent Felsic Explosive Volcanism at Pantelleria Island, Italy

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Experimental Constraints on the Deep Magma Feeding System at Stromboli Volcano, Italy

peak is linearly correlated to the parts per million of S6+ determined by EPMA. Using subsequent deconvolution of the Raman spectra, we established an equation using the ratio between the areas of the ν1 SO42−

Effect of sulphur on the structure of silicate melts under oxidizing conditions

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The effect of Mg concentration in silicate glasses on CO2 solubility and solution mechanism: Implication for natural magmatic systems

peak and the silicate network species (Qn) in the high-frequency region: ppm S6+=34371ASO42−AQn±609.