The H2O solubility of alkali basaltic melts: an experimental study

Experiments were conducted to determine the water solubility of alkali basalts from Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius volcanoes, Italy. The basaltic melts were equilibrated at 1,200°C with pure water, under oxidized conditions, and at pressures ranging from 163 to 3,842 bars. Our results show that at pressures above 1 kbar, alkali basalts dissolve more water than typical mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). Combination of our data with those from previous studies allows the following simple empirical model for the water solubility of basalts of varying alkalinity and fO2 to be derived: where H2OMORB is the water solubility at the calculated P, using the model of Dixon et al. (1995). This equation reproduces the existing database on water solubilities in basaltic melts to within 5%. Interpretation of the speciation data in the context of the glass transition theory shows that water speciation in basalt melts is severely modified during quench. At magmatic temperatures, more than 90% of dissolved water forms hydroxyl groups at all water contents, whilst in natural or synthetic glasses, the amount of molecular water is much larger. A regular solution model with an explicit temperature dependence reproduces well-observed water species. Derivation of the partial molar volume of molecular water using standard thermodynamic considerations yields values close to previous findings if room temperature water species are used. When high temperature species proportions are used, a negative partial molar volume is obtained for molecular water. Calculation of the partial molar volume of total water using H2O solubility data on basaltic melts at pressures above 1 kbar yields a value of 19 cm 3 /mol in reasonable agreement with estimates obtained from density measurements.