Water-enhanced interdiffusion of major elements between natural shoshonite and high-K rhyolite melts

TL;DR

This study experimentally measures how water content influences the diffusion rates of major elements between shoshonite and rhyolite melts, revealing that water significantly accelerates diffusion and affects element mobility in magmatic systems.

Contribution

It provides new quantitative data on water-enhanced diffusion of major elements in natural magmatic melts at high temperature and pressure.

Findings

Diffusivity increases with water content, up to 1.4 orders of magnitude.

Diffusion rates vary among elements, with Ti being the slowest.

Water content and composition strongly influence diffusion behavior.

Abstract

The interdiffusion of six major elements (Si, Ti, Fe, Mg, Ca, K) between natural shoshonite and a high-K calc-alkaline rhyolite (Vulcano island, Aeolian archipelago, Italy) has been experimentally measured by the diffusion couple technique at 1200{\deg}C, pressures from 50 to 500 MPa and water contents from 0.3 (nominally dry) to 2 wt%. The experiments were carried out in an internally heated pressure vessel, and major element profiles were later acquired by electron probe microanalysis. The concentration-distance profiles are evaluated using a concentration-dependent diffusivity approach. Effective binary diffusion coefficients for four intermediate silica contents are obtained by the Sauer-Freise modified Boltzmann-Matano method. At the experimental temperature and pressures, the diffusivity of all studied elements notably increases with dissolved H2O content. Particularly, diffusion is up to 1.4 orders of magnitude faster in a melt containing 2 wt.% H2O than in nominally dry melts. This effect is slightly enhanced in the more mafic compositions. Uphill diffusion was observed for Al, while all other elements can be described by the concept of effective binary interdiffusion. Ti is the slowest diffusing element through all experimental conditions and compositions, followed by Si. Fe, Mg, Ca and K diffuse at similar rates but always more rapidly than Si and Ti. This trend suggests a strong coupling between melt components. Since effects of composition (including water content) are dominant, a pressure effect on diffusion cannot be clearly resolved in the experimental pressure range.