Re-evaluating the diffusivity of phosphorus in olivine: Implications of low diffusive mobility for thermochronology

Heterogeneities in the phosphorus (P) content of olivine are relatively resistant to diffusive homogenization when compared with other compositional heterogeneities. Thus, heterogeneities in the spatial distribution of P can preserve petrological information about olivine crystals from the earliest stages of crystallization which have been otherwise eliminated. However, compared to independent determinations of protracted cooling timescales in slowly cooled rocks, P enrichments are so sharp as to suggest a rate of diffusive mobility that is many orders of magnitude slower than previously suggested. Here, we heat single natural olivine crystals with sharply defined P heterogeneities (0.02–0.15 wt% P₂O₅ over 0.5 μm spatial scale) in a 1-atmosphere gas-mixing furnace for durations of 10–20 days at 1400°C, thus exposing them to conditions that should be sufficient for complete diffusive relaxation according to published P diffusivity values. However, high-precision chemical analysis of the same interior section before and after heating reveals no discernable difference in the sharpness of phosphorus concentration patterns. Therefore, diffusion chronometry applied to skeletal P enrichments in olivine currently provides erroneously short diffusive timescales. We discuss several possible causes for these discrepancies and the implications for diffusion chronometry as applied to phosphorus in olivine.