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Element loss to platinum capsules in high-temperature–pressure experiments

  • Jintuan Wang ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Xiaolin Xiong , Le Zhang and Eiichi Takahashi ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: October 29, 2020
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 105 Issue 10

Abstract

Element partition coefficients play key roles in understanding various geological processes and are typically measured by performing high-temperature–pressure (HTP) experiments. In HTP experiments, samples are usually enclosed in capsules made of noble metals. Previous studies have shown that Fe, Ni, and Cu readily alloy with noble metals, resulting in significant loss of these elements from the experimental samples. The loss of elements could severely undermine phase equilibrium and compromise the validity and accuracy of the obtained partition coefficients. However, it remains unclear if other elements (in addition to Fe, Ni, and Cu) will also be lost from samples during HTP experiments, and how to minimize such losses. We performed a series of experiments at 1 GPa and 1400 °C to investigate which elements will be lost from samples and explore the influence of capsule materials and oxygen fugacity (fO2) on the loss behavior of elements. The starting material is a synthesized basaltic glass consisting of 8 major elements and 37 trace elements. The sample capsules included platinum (Pt), graphite-lined Pt, and rhenium-lined Pt, and the experimental oxygen fugacity (fO2) was buffered from <FMQ-2 to ~FMQ+5. Results show that: (1) 15 elements (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, Cd, In, Sn, W, and Mo) were lost from the sample due to direct contacting and alloying with Pt under graphite-bufered conditions; (2) graphite and Re lining can physically isolate the starting material from Pt and prevent the loss of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zn, Ga, Ge, Cd, In, Sn, W, and Mo, but only slightly reduce the loss of Ni and Cu; and (3) element loss can be significantly reduced under oxidizing conditions, and all elements except Cu were retained in the samples under Ru–RuO2 buffered conditions. These findings provide several viable capsule assemblies that are capable of preventing or reducing element loss, which may prove useful in determining accurate partition coefficients in HTP experiments.

Keywords: Element loss; high-temperature–pressure experiments; capsule materials; experimental fo2

Acknowledgments and Funding

We greatly appreciate the constructive comments by Jon Blundy and John C. Ayers, which have improved many aspects of this work. We also thank Don Baker for the handling of this manuscript. This project was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0702704) to Xiaolin Xiong; by the Strategic Priority Research Program (XDB18000000) and President’s International Fellowship Initiative (2017VSA001) of the CAS to Eiichi Takahashi. All data supporting the conclusions of this paper can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/5vvgf8xsgv.1 (Mendeley Data). This is contribution no. IS-2879 from GIGCAS.

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Received: 2020-04-29
Accepted: 2020-06-17
Published Online: 2020-10-29
Published in Print: 2020-10-27

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

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  2. The effects of solid-solid phase equilibria on the oxygen fugacity of the upper mantle
  3. Structural and spectroscopic study of the kieserite-dwornikite solid-solution series, (Mg,Ni)SO4·H2O, at ambient and low temperatures, with cosmochemical implications for icy moons and Mars
  4. Mineral compositions and thermobarometry of basalts and boninites recovered during IODP Expedition 352 to the Bonin forearc
  5. An evolutionary system of mineralogy. Part II: Interstellar and solar nebula primary condensation mineralogy (>4.565 Ga)
  6. Swelling capacity of mixed talc-like/stevensite layers in white/green clay infillings (“deweylite”/“garnierite”) from serpentine veins of faulted peridotites, New Caledonia
  7. Experimental observations of TiO2 activity in rutile-undersaturated melts
  8. Direct evidence for the source of uranium in the Baiyanghe deposit from accessory mineral alteration in the Yangzhuang granite porphyry, Xinjiang Province, northwest China
  9. Extraction of high-silica granites from an upper crustal magma reservoir: Insights from the Narusongduo magmatic system, Gangdese arc
  10. “EosFit-Pinc: A simple GUI for host-inclusion elastic thermobarometry” byAngel et al. (2017)—Discussion
  11. “EosFit-Pinc: A simple GUI for host-inclusion elastic thermobarometry” —Reply to Zhong et al
  12. Letter
  13. Synthesis and crystal structure of Pb-dominant tourmaline
  14. Element loss to platinum capsules in high-temperature–pressure experiments
  15. New Mineral Names
  16. Book Review
  17. Book Review: Fundamental Planetary Science: Physics, Chemistry and Habitability
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2020-7580
Keywords for this article
Element loss; high-temperature–pressure experiments; capsule materials; experimental fo2

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Roebling Medal Paper
  2. The effects of solid-solid phase equilibria on the oxygen fugacity of the upper mantle
  3. Structural and spectroscopic study of the kieserite-dwornikite solid-solution series, (Mg,Ni)SO4·H2O, at ambient and low temperatures, with cosmochemical implications for icy moons and Mars
  4. Mineral compositions and thermobarometry of basalts and boninites recovered during IODP Expedition 352 to the Bonin forearc
  5. An evolutionary system of mineralogy. Part II: Interstellar and solar nebula primary condensation mineralogy (>4.565 Ga)
  6. Swelling capacity of mixed talc-like/stevensite layers in white/green clay infillings (“deweylite”/“garnierite”) from serpentine veins of faulted peridotites, New Caledonia
  7. Experimental observations of TiO2 activity in rutile-undersaturated melts
  8. Direct evidence for the source of uranium in the Baiyanghe deposit from accessory mineral alteration in the Yangzhuang granite porphyry, Xinjiang Province, northwest China
  9. Extraction of high-silica granites from an upper crustal magma reservoir: Insights from the Narusongduo magmatic system, Gangdese arc
  10. “EosFit-Pinc: A simple GUI for host-inclusion elastic thermobarometry” byAngel et al. (2017)—Discussion
  11. “EosFit-Pinc: A simple GUI for host-inclusion elastic thermobarometry” —Reply to Zhong et al
  12. Letter
  13. Synthesis and crystal structure of Pb-dominant tourmaline
  14. Element loss to platinum capsules in high-temperature–pressure experiments
  15. New Mineral Names
  16. Book Review
  17. Book Review: Fundamental Planetary Science: Physics, Chemistry and Habitability
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