Raman investigation of magma mingling experiments as a tool for tracking the chemical and structural evolution of melt.

Abstract:

Magma mixing is a petrologic phenomenon, for which extensive evidence has been documented in rocks young and old, from intrusive and effusive igneous environments. Although magma mixing between mafic and silicic magmas is regarded as a major differentiation process, documentation of the mechanisms acting in melt interaction, both in its physical and chemical aspects, is still incomplete. We present the first Raman spectroscopic investigation of the products of magma-mixing experiments performed using natural basaltic and rhyolitic melts from the Yellowstone Norris-Mammoth Corridor. The mixing process is driven by a recently-developed apparatus that generates chaotic streamlines in the melts, mimicking the development of magma mixing in nature. The chemical variation of major elements is studied in detail by electron microprobe (EMPA) on mixed filaments of 1000 µm diameter. Raman and microprobe measurements have been performed every 10 µm this allow us to investigate the evolution of silicate structure, from the rhyolitic to the basaltic composition. Deconvoluted Raman spectra collected from the mixed experiment yield information about network-forming structural units (Qn species, where n indicates the number of bridging oxygen). By combining Raman spectra and chemical analyses we show, for the first time, how the percent of Qn species evolve with chemical composition in these natural silicate melts. Moreover, our results show how the ratio of network modifiers respect to network former cations, dramatically affects the Raman spectra of the rhyolitic end-member.