Travis J. Tenner

The effect of Fe on olivine H2O storage capacity: Consequences for H2O in the martian mantle

Abstract To investigate the influence of chemical composition on the behavior of H2O in Fe-rich nominally anhydrous minerals, and to determine the difference between H2O behavior in the martian and terrestrial mantles, we conducted high-pressure H2O storage capacity experiments employing a wide range of olivine compositions. Experiments were conducted with bulk compositions in the system FeO-MgO-SiO2-H2O with Mg no. [Mg no. = 100 × molar Mg/(Mg+Fe)] ranging between 50 and 100 at 3 GPa in a piston-cylinder and at 6 GPa in a multi-anvil apparatus. Experiments at 3 GPa were conducted at 1200 °C, with fO₂ buffered by the coexistence of Fe and FeO, and at 1300-1500 °C in unbuffered assemblies. Experiments at 6 GPa were conducted at 1200 °C without buffers. Experiments at 1200 °C produced olivine+orthopyroxene+hydrous liquid (liq), and higher T experiments produced olivine+liq. Additionally, we synthesized a suite of 7 olivine standards (Mg no. = 90) for low blank secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis of H in multi-anvil experiments at 3-10 GPa and 1250 °C, resulting in large (200-400 μm) homogeneous crystals with 0.037 to 0.30 wt% H2O. Polarized Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements on randomly oriented grains from the synthesis experiments were used to determine principal axis spectra through least-squares regression, and H contents were calculated from the total absorbance in the OH stretching region. Using these olivines as calibrants for SIMS analyses, the H contents of olivines and pyroxenes from the variable Mg no. experiments were measured by counting 16OH ions. Ignoring any matrix effects owing to variation in Mg no., H contents of olivine and pyroxene increase linearly with decreasing Mg no. At 6 GPa and 1200 °C, olivine H contents increase from 0.05 to 0.13 wt% H2O (8360 to 23 900 H/106 Si) as olivine Mg no. decreases from 100 to 68, and at 3 GPa and 1200 °C olivine H contents increase from 0.017 to 0.054 wt% (278 to 10 000 H/106 Si) as Mg no. decreases from 100 to 55. The partition coefficient for H between pyroxene and olivine, DHopx/ol, decreases from 1.05 at 3 GPa and 1200 °C to 0.61 at 6 GPa and 1200 °C. The storage capacity of Fe-rich olivines with compositions expected in the martian mantle is -1.5 times greater than those in the terrestrial mantle, suggesting that the geochemical behavior of H2O in the mantles of the two planets are quite similar. If 50% of the K2O on Mars remains in its mantle (Taylor et al. 2006), then a similar or greater proportion of the H2O is also in the mantle. Given accretionary models of the total martian H2O budget (Lunine et al. 2003), this suggests concentrations of 100-500 ppm H2O in the martian mantle and 0.1-1.9 wt% H2O in primary martian basalts.

The composition of KLB-1 peridotite

Abstract Electron microprobe analyses of major- and minor-element oxide components for two glassed samples of natural KLB-1 peridotite are presented. One glass was made with the aid of a phosphate flux, and the second glass was made by laser melting of aerodynamically levitated spheroids resulting in homogeneous silicate glass beads. For unknown reasons, the silicate-phosphate glass yields compositions that are incompatible with the composition of KLB-1 peridotite. However, analysis of the glass bead formed by laser synthesis is believed to give an accurate representation of the composition of KLB-1 peridotite, except for minor loss of Na2O owing to volatilization. The new data resolve conflicting FeO, CaO, and TiO2 values from two older measurements present in the literature. Mass-balance calculations using the new composition measurement combined with new analyses of the mineral compositions in KLB-1 result in a lower sum of squares of the residuals than those using the older measurements. There are appreciable differences in calculated modes from partial-melting experiments of KLB-1 when calculated using older KLB-1 analyses or our new analysis.