A Reappraisal of Peridotite Solidus Phase Equilibria from 6 to 14 GPa in the System CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2

Abstract

Abstract Experimentally determined isobaric invariant melting phase relations from 6 to 14 GPa in the system CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 (CMAS), involving the crystalline phases forsterite + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + garnet and liquid, are reported. Experiments were conducted using a multianvil device with stepped lanthanum chromite heaters in the pressure cells. At a fixed pressure, the five-phase assemblage identified above can exist only at a single temperature. As such, these isobaric invariant points correspond to the solidus of model garnet peridotite in this part of the composition space in the studied system, as is the case at lower pressures in some previous studies. The solidus of model peridotite is univariant in pressure–temperature space, has a positive Clapeyron slope, and the isobaric invariant solidus temperatures, at 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 GPa, are 1965 °C, 2090 °C, 2200 °C, 2280 °C, and 2320 °C, respectively. Over the investigated pressure range, orthopyroxene is in reaction relation with the liquid, with the fusion reaction taking the form forsterite + clinopyroxene + garnet = orthopyroxene + liquid. The compositions of liquids reported here do not seem to depend on orthopyroxene being present in the experiments. Compositionally, liquids here are fairly magnesian and siliceous, and have lower alumina and lime concentrations than at lower pressures with the identical crystalline phase assemblage in the system CMAS. In contrast to some previous studies, in this study, there is no evidence of maximum and minimum normative forsterite concentration of the isobaric invariant liquid at around 8 and 12 GPa, respectively, nor of a substantial curvature in the track of liquid compositions, when such liquids coexist with the above-mentioned four-phase crystalline phase assemblage. Instead, here, with increasing pressure from 6 to 14 GPa, liquids at the isobaric invariant points (defining the univariant solidus) become progressively (quasi-linearly) enstatite-normative. This experimental observation on liquid compositions from the present study might be important for future work aimed at investigating the chemistry of liquids derived from partial fusion of anhydrous peridotite at pressures, and corresponding depths in Earth, greater than investigated here.