Clinopyroxene growth rates at high pressure: constraints on magma recharge of the deep reservoir of the Campi Flegrei Volcanic District (south Italy)

Abstract

Clinopyroxene growth rates were experimentally determined in a K-basaltic rock from Campi Flegrei Volcanic District (south Italy). The primary objective was to provide constraints on the clinopyroxene crystallization kinetics at high pressure: we carried out a series of experiments at 0.8 GPa, 1030–1250 °C, 1 ≤ H2O ≤ 4 wt.%, with durations of 0.25, 3, 6 and 9 h. Overall, growth rate reaches a maximum value in the shortest experiments (~ 3·10−7 cm·s−1), decreasing to ~ 1·10−8 cm·s−1 in the longest duration runs. Temperature and water content do not seem to significantly affect the growth rate. Moreover, partition coefficients based on the crystal-liquid exchange show that mineral chemistry progressively approaches equilibrium with increasing run duration. Furthermore, to estimate the magma recharge of the deep reservoirs, we combined the determined growth rates with data from thermobarometry and from crystal size distribution analyses of clinopyroxenes in the most primitive scoria clasts of the Campi Flegrei Volcanic District (CFVD). We obtained a minimum residence time of ~ 5 months for the larger clinopyroxene population, and an ascent velocity of ~ 0.5·10−4 m·s−1 for the CFVD K-basaltic magma. The smaller clinopyroxene phenocrysts and microlite populations, however, suggest that the late stage of Procida magma crystallization took place in disequilibrium conditions.