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An experimental study of Ostwald ripening of olivine and plagioclase in silicate melts: implications for the growth and size of crystals in magmas

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Abstract

We carried out an experimental study to characterize the kinetics of Ostwald ripening in the forsterite-basalt system and in the plagioclase (An65)-andesite system. Eight experiments were done in each system to monitor the evolution of mean grain size and crystal size distribution (CSD) with time t; the experiments were performed in a 1-atmosphere quench furnace, at 1,250°C for plagioclase and 1,300°C for olivine. Very contrasted coarsening kinetics were observed in the two series. In the plagioclase series, the mean grain size increased as log(t), from ≈3 μm to only 8.7 μm in 336 h. The kinetic law in log(t) means that Ostwald ripening was rate-limited by surface nucleation at plagioclase-liquid interfaces. In the olivine series, the mean grain size increased as t 1/3, from ≈3 μm to 23.2 μm in 496 h. A kinetic law in t 1/3 is expected when Ostwald ripening is rate-limited either by diffusion in the liquid or by grain growth/dissolution controlled by a screw dislocation mechanism. The shape of olivine CSDs, in particular their positive skewness, indicates that grain coarsening in the olivine experiments was controlled by a screw dislocation mechanism, not by diffusion. As the degrees of undercooling ΔT (or supersaturation) involved in Ostwald ripening are essentially <1°C, the mechanisms of crystal growth identified in our experiments are expected to be those prevailing during the slow crystallisation of large magma chambers. We extrapolated our experimental data to geological time scales to estimate the effect of Ostwald ripening on the size of crystals in magmas. In the case of plagioclase, Ostwald ripening is only efficient for mean grain sizes of a few microns to 20 μm, even for a time scale of 105 years. It can, however, result in a significant decrease of the number of small crystals per unit volume, and contribute to the development of convex upwards CSDs. For olivine, the mean grain size increases from 2–3 μm to ≈70 μm in 1 year and 700 μm in 103 years; a mean grain size of 3 mm is reached in 105 years. Accordingly, the rate of grain size-dependent processes, such as compaction of olivine-rich cumulates or melt extraction from partially molten peridotites, may significantly be enhanced by textural coarsening.

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Acknowledgements

This manuscript benefited from discussions with Alain Baronnet, Yves Bienvenu, Albert Jambon, Gilles Quérel, and Daniel Vielzeuf. Michèle Veschambre and Jean-Luc Devidal are thanked for technical assistance with the electron microprobe, and Pierre Boivin for technical assistance with the 1-atm furnaces. Ilya Bindeman is thanked for its constructive review and Dave Walker for raising the issue of thermal fluctuations in 1-atm furnaces. The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers (INSU-CNRS). Work supported in part by the European Community’s Human Potential Program under contract HPRN-CT-2002-00211 (Research Training Network EUROMELT). Contribution INSU-CNRS 381.

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  1. Hugues Cabane

    Present address: Saint-Gobain Cristaux et Détecteurs, BP 521, 77794, Nemours cédex, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, CNRS/Université Blaise Pascal/IRD, OPGC, 5 rue Kessler, 63038, Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France

    Hugues Cabane, Didier Laporte & Ariel Provost

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  1. Hugues Cabane
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Correspondence to Didier Laporte.

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Communicated by Timothy L. Grove

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Cabane, H., Laporte, D. & Provost, A. An experimental study of Ostwald ripening of olivine and plagioclase in silicate melts: implications for the growth and size of crystals in magmas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 150, 37–53 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-005-0002-2

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