Gas recovery experiments to determine the degree of shock-induced devolatilization of calcite

Abstract

Shock-induced devolatilization of volatile-bearing minerals has played an important role in the formation of the atmosphere and evolution of surface environments of terrestrial planets. The dependence of the degree of devolatilization on ambient pressure has not been investigated in detail before, even though ambient pressure dramatically affects the degree of devolatilization. In this study, we conducted shock recovery experiments on calcite (CaCO3) using newly designed sample containers for released gas analysis, and assessed the dependence of the degree of devolatilization on the partial pressure of CO2. Our results clearly show that the degree of devolatilization increases as the sample container volume increases and the initial mass of calcite decreases.