Experimental hydration of natural volcanic clinopyroxene phenocrysts under hydrothermal pressures (0.5-3 kbar)

• Water is a key parameter in mantle rheology, magma genesis, magma evolution, and resulting eruption styles, because it controls the density and the viscosity, as well as the melting and crystallization behavior of a melt. The water content in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) such as clinopyroxene recently has been used as a proxy for magmatic water contents. NAMs, however, may dehydrate during magma degassing and eruption. We performed rehydration experiments on potentially degassed clinopyroxene phenocrysts from various volcanic settings. The experiments were conducted in hydrogen gas at 1 atm or hydrothermal pressures ranging from 0.5 to 3 kbar to test the incorporation of water into natural clinopyroxene under water fugacities similar to those in a volcanic system. Our results show a dependence of the water content in the clinopyroxene crystals with pressure as the phenocrysts begin to dehydrate upon lower water fugacities in the experiments. Water loss or gain in a crystal occurs according to the relatively fast redox-reaction OH- + Fe2+ ↔ O2– + Fe3+ + ½ H2, which was confirmed by Mössbauer spectroscopy. The kinetics of this redox-process are independent of pressure and thus water fugacity. Water contents in rehydrated clinopyroxene crystals can be related to magmatic water contents at various levels in a volcanic system. Our results thus show that the water content in erupted clinopyroxene phenocrysts cannot be taken for granted to be representative of magmatic water contents prior to magma degassing. The conducted experiments indicate the simultaneous dehydration of clinopyroxene along with magma ascent and degassing. Rehydration experiments under hydrothermal pressures, however, may be able to reconstruct clinopyroxene water contents at crystallization prior to dehydration.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Multidisciplinär geovetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geosciences, Multidisciplinary (hsv//eng)

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