A 1.3 [times] 10[sup 7] g, 3 m diameter, hemispheric-shaped, man-made mafic melt produced by inductance heating was allowed to cool naturally, dropping from a maximum temperature of 1,500 C to 500 C in 6 days. The cooled melt was found to be almost completely crystalline, and is composed dominantly of unzoned pyroxene and plagioclase. A thermal arrest, a 20 hr period of constant temperature (1,140 C) observed during cooling resulted from the release of latent heat during crystallization. However, crystallization within the central part of the melt probably began at a higher temperature, as indicated by thermal perturbations between 1,300 C and 1,140 C. Comparison of results from simple conductive cooling models with the observed cooling curves influenced by latent heat input allows estimates of the timing of crystalline growth. Growth rates for plagioclase and pyroxene are estimated to range between 10[sup [minus]5] and 10[sup [minus]6] cm/sec. Although the melt was physically, chemically, and thermally homogeneous at the time that cooling was initiated, the crystal morphology and composition varies systematically with distance from the edge of the melt, presumably as a function of cooling rate and degree of undercooling at the time that crystallization was initiated. Crystals near themore » edge of the melt, where cooling was most rapid are characterized by disequilibrium skeletal or spherulitic morphologies. With increased proximity to the interior, and progressively slower cooling rates, crystal morphology grade from chain-like to lath-like, and finally to tabular in the slowest-cooled areas. The chemical composition of the diopsidic pyroxene also varies as function of growth rate. Crystals that grew near the edge of the melt are enriched with respect to Al, and depleted with respect to Mg as compared to crystals from the central area.« less
Iron redox kinetics in silicate liquids were investigated by melting 100 mg pellets of compacted rhyolite, pantellerite, pantelleritic trachyte, and andesite rock powders at 1243 and 1343/degree/C in a moderately reducing furnace atmosphere (log fO/sub 2/ = /minus/7.83) for periods of 1 to 4320 minutes. The redox state of glasses produced by quenching these liquids was determined by colorimetric analysis of the ferrous iron and total iron content. Redox equilibrium, indicated by the attainment of a constant FeO/FeO/sub tot/ ratio, was observed for all temperature-composition conditions studied, except for 1243/degree/C experiments with USGS rhyolite standard RGM-1. This is consistent with the low diffusivity of reacting components in high viscosity rhyolite liquids. In the 1243/degree/C experiments with RGM-1, no change in the FeO/FeO/sub tot/ ratio was observed after 4320 minutes. This implies that redox equilibrium is not maintained in natural rhyolite lavas which erupt as significantly lower temperatures (720--850/degree/C). We conclude that sluggish redox kinetics precludes major changes in the oxidation state of a rhyolite magma during the eruption process. If this is true, then the quenched magma, represented by glassy rhyolites, preserves the pre-eruption redox signature of the magma. 2 refs.
Single-step and multistep undercooling experiments using both Fe,Mg-free and Fe,Mgbearing model granitic compositions were conducted to investigate the influence of mafic components on the crystallization of granitic melts. Crystallization of granite and granodiorite compositions in the system NaAlSi3O6-KAlSirOr-CaAlzSi2Os-SiOr-H2O produces assemblages containing one or more of the following phases: plagioclase, alkali feldspar, qloartz, silicate liquid, and vapor. The observed phase assemblages are generally in good agreement with equilibrium data reported in the literature on the same bulk compositions. With the addition of Fe and Mg to these bulk compositions six new phases participate in the equilibria (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, biotite, hornblende, epidote, and magnetite). However, crystalline assemblages produced in phase equilibrium and crystal grofih experiments brought to the same fnal P-Z-X6,. conditions are in general not equivalent. In crystal-growth experiments, nucleation of the feldspars and quartz is greatly inhibited in the presence of Fe and Mg. Indeed, plagioclase is the only tectosilicate to nucleate in the granodiorite composition. Mafic phases nucleate and grow outside of their thermal stability fields as defined by the equilibrium phase diagrams. This contrast in mineral assemblages between the equilibrium and crystal growth experiments is in marked contrast to the results obtained for Fe- and Mg-free compositions. Perhaps the addition of Fe and Mg has caused a breakdown of the Si-O framework in the melt, thereby promoting the more rapid nucleation of the inoand phyllosilicates rather than the framework silicates. Border zones of granitic plutons, com-only rich in mafic minerals, may result from the more rapid nucleation of mafic phases from the silicate liquid. These zones are thought to develop by early crystallization along the walls of the pluton. Our results suggest the mafic phases should nucleate more quickly than the feldspars and quartz and thus should enrich the early crystallization products in ferromagnesian minerals.
Magma mixing in silicic volcanic rocks of the Inyo chain is manifest by bimodal mineral chemistry and distinctive banding, defined by either variations in (1) glass color and chemistry or (2) microlite abundance within colorless glass. Bands composed of brown or microlite‐rich, colorless glass are characterized by more Mg‐rich mafic silicates and more calcic plagioclase than microlite‐poor, colorless glass domains. A rhyolitic and a dacitic mixing end‐member can be defined on the basis of this mineral distribution. Thermobarometry using the mineral assemblages unique to each end‐member indicates that prior to mixing, the dacite was more oxidized and water‐rich than the rhyolitic magma. Determined mineral crystallization conditions compare favorably with experimentally derived phase equilibria for melts of broadly similar composition. The spatial association of contrasting mineral assemblages with the flow banding in these rocks implies that the banding is a direct product of magma mixing. It formed as either (1) volumes of the comingled magmas were immediately vented to the surface and quenched, preserving domains of two distinct glass compositions, or (2) bands of dacitic magma precipitated microlites when comingled with the rhyolitic magma in an attempt for the two magmas to approach equilibrium.
