Fe–Mg Partitioning between Olivine and High-magnesian Melts and the Nature of Hawaiian Parental Liquids

Abstract

We conducted 1 atm experiments on a synthetic Hawaiian picrite at fO_2 values ranging from the quartz–fayalite–magnetite (QFM) buffer to air and temperatures ranging from 1302 to 1600°C. Along the QFM buffer, olivine is the liquidus phase at ~1540°C and small amounts of spinel (< 0·2 wt %) are present in experiments conducted at and below 1350°C. The olivine becomes progressively more ferrous with decreasing temperature [Fo_(92·3) to Fo_(87·3), where Fo = 100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe), atomic]; compositions of coexisting liquids reflect the mode and composition of the olivine with concentrations of SiO_2, TiO_2, Al_(2)O_3, and CaO increasing monotonically with decreasing temperature, those of NiO and MgO decreasing, and FeO^* (all Fe as FeO) remaining roughly constant. An empirical relationship based on our data, T(°C) = 19·2 × (MgO in liquid, wt %) + 1048, provides a semi-quantitative geothermometer applicable to a range of Hawaiian magma compositions. The olivine–liquid exchange coefficient, K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg) = (FeO/MgO)^(ol)/(FeO/MgO)^(liq), is 0·345 ± 0·009 (1σ ) for our 11 experiments. A literature database of 446 1 atm experiments conducted within 0·25 log units of the QFM buffer (QFM ± 0·25) yields a median K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg) of 0·34; K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg) values from single experiments range from 0·41 to 0·13 and are correlated with SiO_2 and alkalis in the liquid, as well as the forsterite (Fo) content of the olivine. For 78 experiments with broadly tholeiitic liquid compositions (46–52 wt % SiO_2 and ≤ 3 wt % Na_(2)O + K_(2)O) coexisting with Fo_(92–80) olivines, and run near QFM (QFM ± 0·25), K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg) is approximately independent of composition with a median value of 0·340 ± 0·012 (error is the mean absolute deviation of the 78 olivine–glass pairs from the database that meet these compositional criteria), a value close to the mean value of 0·343 ± 0·008 from our QFM experiments. Thus, over the composition range encompassed by Hawaiian tholeiitic lavas and their parental melts, K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg) ~ 0·34 and, given the redox conditions and a Fo content for the most magnesian olivine phenocrysts, a parental melt composition can be reconstructed. The calculated compositions of the parental melts are sensitive to the input parameters, decreasing by ~1 wt % MgO for every log unit increase in the selected fO_2, every 0·5 decrease in the Fo-number of the target olivine, and every 0·015 decrease in K_(D,Fe^(2+)-Mg). For plausible ranges in redox conditions and Fo-number of the most MgO-rich olivine phenocrysts, the parental liquids for Hawaiian tholeiites are highly magnesian, in the range of 19–21 wt % MgO for Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.