Halogen diffusion in a basaltic melt

Abstract

The diffusion of the halogens fluorine, chlorine, and bromine was measured in a hawaiitic melt from Mt. Etna at 500 MPa and 1.0 GPa, 1250 to 1450 ºC at anhydrous conditions; the diffusion of F and Cl in the melt was also studied with about 3 wt% of dissolved water. Experiments were performed using the diffusion-couple technique in a piston cylinder. Most experiments were performed with only one halogen diffusing between the halogen-enriched and halogen-poor halves of the diffusion couple, but a few experiments with a mixture of halogens (F, Cl, Br) were also performed in order to investigate the possibility of interactions between the halogens during diffusion. Fluorine and chlorine diffusivity show a very similar behavior, slightly diverging at low temperature. Bromine diffusion is a factor of about 2 to 5 lower than the other halogens in this study. Diffusion coefficients for fluorine range between 2.3x10−11 and 1.4x10−10 m2s−1, for chlorine between 1.1x10−11 and 1.3x10−10 and for bromine between 9.4x10−12 and 6.8x10−11 m2s−1. No pressure effect was detected at the conditions investigated. In experiments involving mixed halogens, the diffusivities appear to decrease slightly (by a factor of ~ 3), and are more uniform among the three elements. However, activation energies for diffusion do not appear to differ between experiments with individual halogens or when they are all mixed together. The effect of water increases the diffusion coefficients of F and Cl by no more than a factor of 3 compared to the anhydrous melt (DF = 4.0x10−11 to 1.6x10−10 m2s−1; DCl = 3.0x10−11 to 1.9x10−10 m2s−1). Comparing our results to the diffusion coefficients of other volatiles in nominally dry basaltic melts, halogen diffusivities are about one order of magnitude lower than H2O, similar to CO2, and a factor of ~5 higher than S. The contrasting volatile diffusivities may affect the variable extent of volatile degassing upon melt depressurization and vesiculation, and can help our understanding of the compositions of rapidly grown magmatic bubbles.