Chlorine partitioning between melt and aqueous chloride fluid phase during granite magma degassing. Part II. Crystallization-induced degassing of melts

Abstract

An empirical computer model was developed to describe granite magma degassing and the partitioning behavior of Cl between melts and aqueous chloride fluids that formed during eutectic isobaric crystallization of magmas at pressures from 4 to 0.4 kbar and a temperature of 800 ± 25°C. This model is the extensions of the earlier model describing the decompression degassing of granite melts (Lukanin, 2015). The numerical modeling was performed for both closed-system conditions, when fluid remains in the system, and open-system conditions, when fluid is removed from the system. The results of numerical modeling revealed the main factors controlling the behavior of Cl during crystallization-induced degassing, such as the initial contents of Cl and H2O of the melts, pressure, and the degree of system openness. At high pressures (>1.6 kbar), isobaric crystallization is accompanied by a decrease in the concentrations of Cl in the melt (CClm) and fluid phase (CClfl). This tendency becomes even more pronounced in an open-system with increasing pressure and initial Cl content. A decrease in pressure in the range of 1.62–0.85 kbar results in a drastic change in the Cl behavior: the trend of CClfl and CClfl decrease dominating during crystallization at high pressures changes to the opposite. At low pressures (<0.85 kbar), the enrichment of the residual melts and released fluids in Cl leads at a certain stage of crystallization to the formation of a heterogeneous fluid consisting of two immiscible aqueous chloride phases, a waterdominated aqueous phase and a chloride-rich liquid (brine).