Natural fluid phases at high temperatures and low pressures
Introduction
Gas pollution is a serious problem in modern environments and will only increase in the next century. The principles of geochemical engineering, i.e. the organisation of industrial processes to protect our environment by the same way as natural processes (Schuiling, 1990), could be applied to clean industrial gases from heavy, toxic and rare elements, but we must know how these natural processes are regulated. The best way to investigate these processes is by studying volcanic gases which contain practically all elements, and these compositions can be used as a model for industrial gas pollution. This article is a short review of new field and laboratory results which were obtained from the Kudriavy volcano (andesitic Kuril Island Arc, Russian Far East) from 1988 to 1996, where very hot fumaroles of 170–940°C exist in a stationary regime dating from the last explosion in 1873. The main analytical and mineralogical data for the fumarole gases and sublimates are published by Korzhinsky et al., 1994, Korzhinsky et al., 1995, Korzhinsky et al., 1996and Taran et al. (1995); some of the data are still in preparation. These high-temperature fumaroles have relatively constant compositions of 94–95 mol% of H2O, about 2 mol% each of various C and S species and 0.5 mol% HCl. A maximal H2 concentration of 1.2 mol% was found in the hottest fumarole (940°C). Oxygen fugacities were found to fall within the `inner' gas buffer, which mainly depend on the temperature of equilibrium between sulphuric species (SO2, H2S, S), H2 and H2O. This equilibrium is very near to the Ni–NiO buffer, which can be used for calculations. Calculation of oxygen fugacities using the ratios SO2/H2S and CO2/CO are in good agreement with direct measurements of fO2 by solid state electrolyte cells (Rosen et al., 1993)
Section snippets
L–V equilibrium
Degassing of a magmatic melt at low pressure can take place if the magma chamber is in connection with the surface via gas conduits, and the pressure on the uppermost part of the chamber is not too large. Gas viscosity and, consequently, gasodynamic resistance are small and for conduits with a characteristic size of 1–10 cm, the Darcy equation indicates only a pressure of 5–20 bar on the magma surface at intermediate crust chambers, 2–3 km under the volcanic summit. Stable isotope data for D/H
Hydrolysis of the salt melt
At a liquid–vapour equilibrium, if the vapour phase is practically pure water, we should observe the effect of the fractionation of the hydrolysis products between coexisting phases. One such simple reaction is: H2O+NaCl=HCl+NaOH. At high pressure (above 500 bar) this reaction has a strong shift to the left, but at magmatic temperatures and low pressures (below 100 bar) the process of fractionation begins to play an important role. The fugacities (or vapour pressures) of HCl and NaOH differ
Sublimate minerals formation
Long-time experiments for sublimate formation were done on the Kudriavy volcano. Maximal duration of the runs was nearly 1 month. The sublimates precipitated inside quartz glass tubes, 2/3 of which was exposed above the surface and 1/3 was buried below. In the tubes were found: halogenides (simple as NaCl and KCl, and more complicated KPb2Cl5, marshite, CuI, and some fluorine minerals), oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, KReO4), sulphides, silicates and sulphates. Detailed description of sublimate mineralogy
Native elements
Some native elements are quite common in rocks, e.g. noble metals, sulphur, iron, carbon, etc. In the Russian literature since 1981, many articles were published about quite unusual native metals (Al, Si, Mg, Bi, Pb) in kimberlites, trapps, granites and hydrothermal ore deposits (Novgorodova, 1983). Calculations concerning the stability fields of these metals lead to unrealistic fluid compositions (Novgorodova, 1996), which were practically pure methane or hydrogen. However, the many
Vapour phase species
Calculations for metal transport by volcanic gases were done for the Momotombo (Quisefit et al., 1989), Augustin (Symonds et al., 1992) and St. Helens volcanoes (Symonds and Reed, 1993). From the database and software of Symonds and Reed (1993)the main species in those gases for rock-forming and ore elements include chlorides (MnCl2, CoCl2, CuCl, AgCl, KCl, NaCl, RbCl, CaCl2, CsCl), (hydr-)oxides (Fe(OH)2, H2WO4, H2MoO4), elements (Zn, Cd, Hg), sulphides (PbS, AsS, SbS, AuS), and fluorides (SiF4
Mass transport by gases
During the 1995 field season on the Kudriavy volcano COSPEC measurements were done by S. Williams and T. Fisher (Arizona State University, pers. commun., 1995). The bulk emission of magmatic gases was estimated at about 2000 metric tons per day. Surface mapping of the fumarole fields and measurement of gas velocities in the jets and in the steam areas have suggested that this value is an order of magnitude higher. However, these measurements have included meteoric as well as magmatic water. In
Conclusions
Long-term investigations of sublimate precipitation of main and trace elements using optic, SEM and microprobe studies, analysis of volcanic gases and geochemical modelling of transport forms have been carried out on the Kudriavy volcano, which produces approximately 2000 tons/day of magmatic gases. The sublimates precipitated in quartz glass tubes as practically monomineral clusters. This process could be a model for industrial technologies to separate toxic, rare and heavy metals from waste.
Acknowledgements
We are thankful for the support of the fieldwork on the Kudriavy volcano by the Russian Fund of Basic Investigations, the Russian Ministry of Sciences and Technology and, furthermore, the organizing committee of the Geochemical Engineering Symposium for the opportunity to participate. Many thanks to Daniel Harlov and Hans Zijlstra for corrections of our terrible English.
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Permanent address: Institute of Experimental Mineralogy RAS, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.