The influence of fluorine on phase relations and REE enrichment in alkaline magmas
Abstract
Fluorine is a minor element in most magmas, but higher concentrations to wt% levels have been reported in alkaline systems, including those which host economic deposits of REE + HFSE1. Despite low abundance in most natural melts, fluorine has received great attention from the experimental community because it has a strong influence on melt structure, lowering melting points and drastically reducing viscosity. The effect of fluorine on element speciation has important implications for phase relations and the partitioning of trace elements between minerals and melts, thus metal enrichment processes in alkaline magmas. We have experimentally investigated the impact of fluorine on phase relations and partitioning of rare metals, the REE in particular, in evolved alkaline melts. Synthetic glasses of tephriphonolite to phonolite composition were doped with a wide range of elements at trace levels, and fluorine contents were varied from fluorine-free to 2.5 wt%. Experiments were performed water-saturated in an internally heated pressure vessel at 200 MPa with log fO2 at ca. QFM+1, which represents the intrinsic redox conditions of the setup. Charges were heated to super-liquidus conditions for 16 hours, cooled slowly (1˚C/min) to run temperature and subsequently equilibrated for at least 40 hours. Run products were analysed by EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. The experiments produce an equilibrium assemblage of sodic pyroxene, biotite, Fe-oxide, melt, fluid, ±K-feldspar, ±titanite, ±fluorite. Addition of fluorine markedly increases the mode of biotite, which initially buffers melt F content at low levels (< 0.2 wt%). Only in experiments with more than 0.6 wt% F do we observe a significant increase in the melt F-content. Here, fluorine decreases pyroxene/melt partitioning coefficients equally for all REE where pyroxene composition and P-T conditions are equivalent (ca. 1/2 with 0.6% F). We suggest that the formation of REE-F complexes in the melt2 lowers the availability of metals for incorporation into solid phases. An increasing fluorine content of the melt will thus make the REE progressively more incompatible and available for residual enrichment. 1. Vasyukova, O. & Williams-Jones, A. E. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 139, 110-130 (2014). 2. Ponader, C. W. & Brown Jr., G. E. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 53, 2905-2914 (1989).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFM.V53A..06B
- Keywords:
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- 3618 Magma chamber processes;
- MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY;
- 3619 Magma genesis and partial melting;
- MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY;
- 3630 Experimental mineralogy and petrology;
- MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY;
- 3665 Mineral occurrences and deposits;
- MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY