259 MSA Awards Lectures, Presidential Address, and Annual Business Meeting
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
3:00 PM - 5:30 PM
MSA Roebling Medal Lecture: Two examples of element-exchange equilibria in petrology
Paper number: 259-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Authors
Abstract
The typically Mg-rich nature of the serpentine in serpentinized mantle peridotite can be ascribed to Mg/Fe2+ equilibration with an environmental exchange potential supplied by the abundant olivine and orthopyroxene in the protolith. Mass balance then requires precipitation of magnetite and evolution of hydrogen. KDs match those of prograde metamorphosed olivine-antigorite meta-serpentinites. In massif serpentinites XΣFe values (1σ) are Liz: 0.058±0.030(n=460) and Chr: 0.034±0.018(n=198). The variation in XΣFe of mesh and bastite Liz correlates with uptake of the cronstedite component Fe2+2Fe3+2SiO5(OH)4. This substitution is favored at low T and low fH2, and may be associated with decreasing a(SiO2). Chr has less Fe3+ than Liz, and so its lower XΣFe more accurately reflects the environmental Mg/Fe2+ potential.