In situ study of the reaction phase A plus high-P clinoenstatite to forsterite plus water at reduced water activity

Abstract

Abstract. We examined the reaction phase A plus high-P clinoenstatite to forsterite plus water (Reaction R1) by means of in situ X-ray diffraction measurements with the large volume press at the synchrotron PETRA III, Hamburg. Contrary to the study of Lathe et al. (2022), in which all experiments on Reaction (R1) were performed at a water activity of 1, the reversed experiments presented in this study were performed at reduced water activity with mole fractions of about XH2O= XCO2=0.5. The intention of this investigation was to test the observation made by Perrillat et al. (2005), which was that dehydration reactions are kinetically faster at reduced than under water-saturated conditions. The position of Reaction (R1) at the reduced conditions was determined by reversal brackets at 9.1 and 9.5 GPa (630 and 700 ∘C), at 9.7 and 10.0 GPa (725 and 700 ∘C), at 9.8 and 10.2 GPa (675 and 750 ∘C), and at 10.5 GPa (675 and 740 ∘C). Additionally, we performed two offline experiments with brackets at 10.0 and 10.6 GPa (750 and 700 ∘C, respectively) that are in agreement with the results of the in situ experiments. We do not observe any “intermediate” precursor phase in our experiments. The equilibrium of Reaction (R1) is shifted by about 100 ∘C to lower temperature compared to the results under water-saturated conditions. Thus, at a water activity (aH2O) below 1 the phase A plus clinoenstatite dehydration reaction can only occur in extremely cold subduction slabs. The kinetics of Reaction (R1) dehydration at reduced water activity is slower than that determined previously by Lathe et al. (2022) under water-saturated conditions. Thus, the above-mentioned hypothesis of Perrillat et al. (2005) could not be confirmed. However, in both of our studies on Reaction (R1), the newly formed dehydration product forsterite was of nanometer size, which supports earlier experimental observations, which is that product phases of dehydration reactions are generally very fine-grained and might promote the concept that intermediate-depth earthquakes in subduction zones are initiated by mechanical instabilities from extremely fine-grained materials formed during dehydration reactions.