Experimental crystal growth in glass inclusions: the possibilities and limits of the method

Abstract

Glass inclusions trapped in bytownite phenocrysts (from the Ardoukoba eruption, Djibouti Republic, 7 November 1978) are used as an experimental environment to follow the evolution of crystallization and residual liquids in a magma with tholeiitic affinities. The results are compared with those obtained from abyssal tholeiites by Walker et al. (1979). In near equilibrium crystallization conditions, simultaneous crystallization of olivine and pyroxene is obtained in the enclosed silicate liquid as well as plagioclase as overgrowths on the cavity walls. Oxides only appear at lower temperatures. The olivine is homogeneous and rather rare (≦5% in weight). It forms at a temperature between 1,186° C±3(Fo85) and 1,126° C(Fo66). The distribution coefficient of Mg between the liquid and the olivine varies regularly with the temperature until titanomagnetite appears. The augite is much more abundant (>20% in weight of the original trapped melt) and is characterized by a composition that varies from the centre to the edges of the crystals Wo 43.5–36.2, En 43.8-41.7, Fs 12.7–22.1. Composition shows an unsatisfactory correlation with temperature and, at most, an Fs enrichment may be noted with temperature decrease. The composition of the plagioclase deposited on the cavity walls varies linearly with temperature from An 73.3 at 1,186° C to An 56.5 at 1,135° C in the case of contemporaneous crystallization of Pl, Cpx, Ol and Ox. If experiments are carried out by undercooling (as much as 150° C) in relation to crystallization of the ferromagnesian minerals, the composition of the plagioclase changes from An 78.8 at 1,160° C to An 52.8 at 1,025° C. In the case of the Pl, Ol, Cpx and +OX crystallization, the included liquids evolve from tholeiitic basalts to ferrobasalts in the same way as the lavas studied in the Asal rift (Demange et al. 1980). The advantages and limitations of the method are discussed.