From an initial transient‐state to a steady‐state in metamorphic reactions: An experimental approach in the system dolomite‐quartz‐H2O

Abstract

Abstract We carried out hydrothermal experiments in the system dolomite‐quartz‐H2O to track the temporal change in reaction rates of simultaneous reactions during the development of reaction zones. Two types of configurations for the starting materials were prepared: dolomite single crystals + quartz powder + water and quartz single crystals + dolomite powder + water, both sealed separately in gold capsules. Runs at 0.1GPa and 600°C with cold seal pressure vessels gave the following results. (i) In short duration (45–71 h) runs metastable layer sequences involving wollastonite and talc occur in the reaction zone, whereas they disappear in longer duration (168–336 h) runs. (ii) The layer sequence of the reaction zones in short duration runs differs from place to place on the dolomite crystal even in the same run. (iii) The diversity of layer sequences in the short duration runs merges into a unique layer sequence in the longer duration runs. (iv) The reaction zone develops locally on the dolomite crystal, but no reaction zone was observed on the quartz crystal in any of the runs. The lines of evidence (i)–(iii) show that the system evolves from an initial transient‐ to a steady‐state and that the kinetic effect is important in the development of reaction zones. A steady diffusion model for the unique layer sequence Qtz/Di/Fo + Cal/Dol + Cal/Dol shows that the Dol + Cal layer cannot be formed by diffusion‐controlled process and that the stability of the layer sequence Qtz/Di/Fo + Cal/Dol depends not only on L‐ratios (a = /LCaOCaO and b = /LMgOMgO) but also on the relative rate P = (−2ξ1 − ξ2)/(–ξ1 − 2ξ2) of competing reactions: Dol + 2Qtz = Di + 2CO2 (ξ1) and 2Dol + Qtz = Fo + 2Cal + 2CO2 (ξ2). For smaller P the stability field will shift to higher values of a and b. The steady diffusion model also shows that the apparent‐non‐reactivity on the quartz surface can be attributed to void formation in a large volume fraction in the diopside layer.