Vapour loss (“boiling”) as a mechanism for fluid evolution in metamorphic rocks

Abstract

The calculation of fluid evolution paths during reaction progress is considered for multicomponent systems and the results applied to the ternary system, CO₂-H₂O-NaCl. Fluid evolution paths are considered for systems in which a CO₂-rich phase of lesser density (vapour) is preferentially removed from the system leaving behind a saline aqueous phase (liquid). Such “boiling” leads to enrichment of the residual aqueous phase in dissolved components and, for certain reaction stoichiometries, to eventual saturation of the fluids in salt components. Distinctive textures, particularly radiating growths of prismatic minerals such as tremolite or diopside, are associated with saline fluid inclusions and solid syngenetic salt inclusions at a number of field localities. The most thoroughly studied of these localities is Campolungo, Switzerland, where metasomatic rocks have developed in association with fractures and veins at 500° C and 2,000 bars of pressure. The petrography of these rocks suggests that fluid phase separation into liquid and vapour has been an important process during metasomatism. Fracture systems with fluids at pressure less than lithostatic may facilitate the loss of the less dense vapour phase to conditions of the amphibolite facies.