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Experimental simulation of magma–carbonate interaction beneath Mt. Vesuvius, Italy

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology volume 166, pages 1335–1353 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

We simulated the process of magma–carbonate interaction beneath Mt. Vesuvius in short duration piston-cylinder experiments under controlled magmatic conditions (from 0 to 300 s at 0.5 GPa and 1,200 °C), using a Vesuvius shoshonite composition and upper crustal limestone and dolostone as starting materials. Backscattered electron images and chemical analysis (major and trace elements and Sr isotopes) of sequential experimental products allow us to identify the textural and chemical evolution of carbonated products during the assimilation process. We demonstrate that melt–carbonate interaction can be extremely fast (minutes), and results in dynamic contamination of the host melt with respect to Ca, Mg and 87Sr/86Sr, coupled with intense CO2 vesiculation at the melt–carbonate interface. Binary mixing between carbonate and uncontaminated melt cannot explain the geochemical variations of the experimental charges in full and convection and diffusion likely also operated in the charges. Physical mixing and mingling driven by exsolving volatiles seems to be a key process to promote melt homogenisation. Our results reinforce hypotheses that magma–carbonate interaction is a relevant and ongoing process at Mt. Vesuvius and one that may operate not only on a geological, but on a human timescale.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to L. Civetta for providing the starting materials. V. Misiti and A. Cavallo kindly helped during the experimental and EMPA work at INGV and G. Nowell kindly supported the micro-drilling and strontium isotope analysis at Durham University. Discussion with S. Mollo, G. Orsi, C. Siebe, L. Dallai, and T. Walter is much appreciated. We thank D. Baker and two anonymous referees for constructive reviews. We also thank the Swedish Science Foundation (VR), the Centre for Natural Disaster Science (CNDS), Uppsala University (UU), the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (KVA), the Irish Research Council for Science (IRCSET), and the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) for generous financial support of our work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, CEMPEG, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    E. M. Jolis, V. R. Troll, F. M. Deegan & L. S. Blythe

  2. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143, Rome, Italy

    C. Freda & V. R. Troll

  3. Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 104 05, Stockholm, Sweden

    F. M. Deegan

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    C. L. McLeod & J. P. Davidson

  5. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77004, USA

    C. L. McLeod

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  1. E. M. Jolis
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  2. C. Freda
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Jolis, E.M., Freda, C., Troll, V.R. et al. Experimental simulation of magma–carbonate interaction beneath Mt. Vesuvius, Italy. Contrib Mineral Petrol 166, 1335–1353 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-013-0931-0

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