The influence of H2O and CO2 on the glass transition temperature: insights into the effects of volatiles on magma viscosity

Abstract

CO 2 can play an important role in eruptive processes; in particular, it has the potential to reach saturation at lower concentrations than H 2 O and initiate degassing. The effect of such CO 2 loss on magma viscosity is not well constrained, especially compared to the established effects of H 2 O loss. In terms of understanding the CO 2 solubility mechanism, recent spectroscopic studies have shown that CO 2 speciation is strongly temperature dependent and that CO 2 speciation preserved in quenched glasses below T g is different from the true CO 2 speciation observed in the melts. However, the effect of CO 2 on the glass transition temperature, and by inference the viscosity, has not been previously established. In this study, calorimetric measurements were conducted on synthetic H 2 O- and CO 2 -bearing phonolite and jadeite glasses in order to investigate the volatile’s effect on the glass transition interval, by defining a single glass transition temperature ( T g onset ). The samples were synthesised in a piston-cylinder apparatus between 1300 and 1550 °C, at 1.0 to 2.5 GPa, and contained up to 2.29 wt.% CO 2 and up to 5.49 wt.% H 2 O. For both compositions, H 2 O has a large effect in reducing T g onset , but CO 2 appears to have little or no effect. For the entire range of H 2 O contents, T g onset decreases exponentially with H 2 O content from 870 to 523 K and 1036 to 636 K for phonolite and jadeite, respectively, regardless of the CO 2 content. No measurable effect of CO 2 on T g onset was observed. These results suggest that compared to H 2 O, CO 2 contributes little to changes in the physical properties of the melt. They also provide strong evidence for the decoupling of CO 2 speciation from the bulk silicate melt structural relaxation process at T g .