Abstract
Reaction rims contain a wealth of information that can be used to decipher the P-T-t-X history of metamorphic and metasomatic rocks. One of the most important parameters that controls reaction rim growth is the presence of volatiles, which can affect rim thicknesses, phase stabilities and the development of rim microstructures. In this study, reaction rim growth experiments were performed between periclase and quartz at anhydrous to water-saturated conditions at 3–4 kbar and 1100–1300 °C. Controlled minute amounts of water were added through OH-doped periclase, which enabled us to perform experiments at controlled water-undersaturated conditions. At anhydrous conditions, no reaction rim formed at all implying that water acts as a catalyst, and a minimum fluid threshold is needed to initiate metamorphic reactions. At water-undersaturated conditions extremely small variations in water content are sufficient to change reaction rim growth rates by multiple orders of magnitude. This implies that reaction rims have the potential to monitor variations in the amount of water at those grain boundaries that serve as fast pathways for component transport at water-undersaturated conditions during metamorphic and metasomatic reactions in natural systems, allowing them to be used as sensitive “geohygrometers”. Additionally, the effect of water on relative layer thicknesses may provide an application for reaction rim microstructures to be used as new physico-chemical gauges that will allow us to discriminate between water-undersaturated and water-saturated conditions during metamorphic events.
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The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings in this study are available within the article and the supplementary materials (ESM_1-3).
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Acknowledgements
We thank M. Tribus for her assistance with sample preparation and microprobe analysis. We are grateful for detailed reviews by R. Abart and an anonymous reviewer who significantly improved the quality of this paper. This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project P 31787.
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This study was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project P 31787.
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Conceptualization: MGF, BJ-M; methodology: MGF, BJ-M; formal analysis and investigation: MGF, BJ-M, BCS, RS; funding acquisition: BJ-M; resources: MGF, BCS, RS; supervision: BJ-M; visualization: MGF; project administration: MGF, BJ-M; writing—original draft preparation: MGF; writing—review and editing: MGF, BCS, RS, BJ-M.
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Franke, M.G., Schmidt, B.C., Stalder, R. et al. Metamorphic reaction kinetics at anhydrous to water-saturated conditions in the binary MgO-SiO2 system. Contrib Mineral Petrol 178, 87 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-023-02064-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-023-02064-2