The Viscosity and Atomic Structure of Volatile-Bearing Melilititic Melts at High Pressure and Temperature and the Transport of Deep Carbon

Abstract

Understanding the viscosity of mantle-derived magmas is needed to model their migration mechanisms and ascent rate from the source rock to the surface. High pressure–temperature experimental data are now available on the viscosity of synthetic melts, pure carbonatitic to carbonate–silicate compositions, anhydrous basalts, dacites and rhyolites. However, the viscosity of volatile-bearing melilititic melts, among the most plausible carriers of deep carbon, has not been investigated. In this study, we experimentally determined the viscosity of synthetic liquids with ~31 and ~39 wt% SiO2, 1.60 and 1.42 wt% CO2 and 5.7 and 1 wt% H2O, respectively, at pressures from 1 to 4.7 GPa and temperatures between 1265 and 1755 C, using the falling-sphere technique combined with in situ X-ray radiography. Our results show viscosities between 0.1044 and 2.1221 Pa s, with a clear dependence on temperature and SiO2 content. The atomic structure of both melt compositions was also determined at high pressure and temperature, using in situ multi-angle energy-dispersive X-ray di raction supported by ex situ microFTIR and microRaman spectroscopic measurements. Our results yield evidence that the T–T and T–O (T = Si,Al) interatomic distances of ultrabasic melts are higher than those for basaltic melts known from similar recent studies. Based on our experimental data, melilititic melts are expected to migrate at a rate ~from 2 to 57 km yr􀀀1 in the present-day or the Archaean mantle, respectively.