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Nucleation rates of spherulites in natural rhyolitic lava

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Published/Copyright: October 29, 2016
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 101 Issue 11

Abstract

The rates of nucleation and crystal growth from silicate melt are difficult to measure because the temperature-time path of magma is often unknown. We use geochemical gradients around spherulites in obsidian glass to estimate the temperature-time interval of spherulite crystallization. This information is used in conjunction with new high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT) data on the size distributions of spherulites in six samples of rhyolite obsidian lava to infer spherulite nucleation rates. A large data set of geochemical profiles indicate that the lavas cooled at rates of 10-2.2 to 10-1.2°C/h, and that the spherulites grew at rates that decreased exponentially with time, with values of 10-0.70 to 100.30µm/h at 600°C. Spherulites are estimated to have begun nucleating when undercooling [ΔT, = liquidus T (≈800°C) minus nucleation T] reached 100-277°C, and stopped when ΔT = 203-365°C, with exact values dependent on assumed cooling and growth rates. Regardless of rates, we find that spherulites nucleated within a ~88-113°C temperature interval and, hence, began when ΔT ≈ 0.65-0.88 x TL, peaking when ΔT ≈ 0.59-0.80 x TL. A peak rate of nucleation of 0.072 ± 0.049 cm-3h-1 occurred at 533 ± 14 °C, using cooling and growth rates that best fit the data set of geochemical profiles. While our inferred values for ΔT overlap those from experimental studies, our nucleation rates are much lower. That difference likely results from experimental studies using hydrous melts; the natural spherulites grew in nearly anhydrous glass.

Keywords: Spherulite; nucleation rate; growth rate; cooling rate; Yellowstone; obsidian; Invited Centennial article

Special collection information can be found at http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/ AmMin/special-collections.html.

Acknowledgments

We thank Nathan Miller for his help with the LA-ICP-MS analyses and Rich Ketcham and Jesse Maisano for their help with X-ray computed tomography data collection and analysis. This research was made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation to J.E.G. (EAR-1049829) and J.M.W. (EAR-1249404), and a National Park Service research permit (YELL-05678). Funding for HRXCT scanning was provided in part by NSF grant EAR-1258878 to R. Ketcham, T. Rowe, and W. Carlson. J.E.G. wishes to thank the Institute for Advanced Studies, Durham University, for their hospitality during preparation of this manuscript.

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Received: 2015-11-12
Accepted: 2016-5-23
Published Online: 2016-10-29
Published in Print: 2016-11-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2016-5624
Keywords for this article
Spherulite; nucleation rate; growth rate; cooling rate; Yellowstone; obsidian; Invited Centennial article

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Melts, mush, and more: Evidence for the state of intermediate-to-silicic arc magmatic systems
  3. Investigating petrologic indicators of magmatic processes in volcanic rocks
  4. Nucleation rates of spherulites in natural rhyolitic lava
  5. Review
  6. Silicic magma reservoirs in the Earth’s crust
  7. Special Collection: New Advances in Subduction Zone Magma Genesis
  8. Petrogenesis of antecryst-bearing arc basalts from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt: Insights into along-arc variations in magma-mush ponding depths, H2O contents, and surface heat flux
  9. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  10. Wayneburnhamite, Pb9Ca6(Si2O7)3(SiO4)3, an apatite polysome: The Mn-free analog of ganomalite from Crestmore, California
  11. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  12. U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of apatite in mafic rocks: Evidence for a major magmatic event at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in the Armorican Massif (France)
  13. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  14. Quantification of CO2 concentration in apatite
  15. Special Collection: Apatite: a Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  16. Phosphate minerals in the H group of ordinary chondrites, and fluid activity recorded by apatite heterogeneity in the Zag H3-6 regolith breccia
  17. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  18. In situ elemental and isotopic analysis of fluorapatite from the Taocun magnetite-apatite deposit, Eastern China: Constraints on fluid metasomatism
  19. Special Collection: Geology and Geobiology of Lassen Volcanic National Park
  20. Acido-thermotolerant fungi from Boiling Springs Lake, LVNP: Potential for lignocellulosic biofuels
  21. Research Article
  22. Solid solution along the synthetic LiAISi2O6-LiFeSi2O6 (spodumene-ferri-spodumene) join: A general picture of solid solutions, bond lengths, lattice strains, steric effects, symmetries, and chemical compositions of Li clinopyroxenes
  23. Research Article
  24. Formation of hydrous stishovite from coesite in high-pressure hydrothermal environments
  25. Research Article
  26. Raman characterization of synthetic magnesian calcites
  27. Research Article
  28. Yangite, PbMnSi3O8·H2O, a new mineral species with double wollastonite silicate chains, from the Kombat mine, Namibia
  29. Research Article
  30. Ideal wollastonite and the structural relationship between the pyroxenoids and pyroxenes
  31. Research Article
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  33. Research Article
  34. In situ X-ray observation of 10 Å phase stability at high pressure
  35. Research Article
  36. New mineral names
  37. Book Review
  38. Book Review: Pore-Scale Geochemical Processes, RIMG Volume 80
  39. Book Review
  40. Book Review: Highly Siderophile and Strongly Chalcophile Elements in High-Temperature Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, RIMG Volume 81
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