Experimental study of liquid immiscibility in the fluid-magmatic silicate systems containing Ti, Nb, Sr, REE, and Zr

Abstract

Aluminosilicate alkaline systems containing Ti, REE (La, Ce), Y, Sr, and Nb were studied experimentally at T = 1200 and 1250°C and P = 2 kbar in the presence of aqueous and alkaline fluid. In the fluid-absent experiments with systems containing the same elements, loparite crystals in a silicate matrix were obtained. These systems in the presence of aqueous and alkaline fluid pressure conditions demonstrate an immiscible splitting into two liquids: (1) aluminosilicate matrix and (2) droplets enriched in Ti, REE (La, Ce), Y, Sr, and Nb, which contain silicate admixture and are compositionally close to loparites. According to approximate estimates, the partition coefficients between the melts of the droplets and aluminosilicate matrix (K = C dr/C sil) are more than 5 for TiO2, 15 for REE, and from 2.3 to 7.6 for SrO. Obtained unmixing may be of great significance for explaining the genesis of REE-Nb (loparite) deposits. In addition, the experiments demonstrate that Zr may be accumulated together with Ti and REE due to liquid immiscibility of this type. The partition coefficient of ZrO2 between the melts of droplets and aluminosilicate matrix (K = C dr/C sil) according to approximate estimates varies from ∼ 3.5 to 9.