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CO2-Brine immiscibility at high temperatures, evidence from calcareous metasedimentary rocks

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Abstract

Study of fluid inclusions in quartz segregations and in the rock matrix of a calcareous psammite and a carbonate schist suggests that brines containing 23–24 weight percent salt (NaCl equivalent) are immiscible with CO2 at the metamorphic conditions of approximately 600° and 6.5 Kb. The presence of a high temperature solvus between saline brine and CO2 is supported by other fluid inclusion studies as well as experimental measurements from the literature. As saline brines are common in metamorphic and hydrothermal systems, CO2-brine immiscibility should play an important role in petrogenesis. The fluid inclusions preserved in the quartz segregations probably represent the fluids generated by prograde metamorphic reactions, whereas the compositions of the fluids trapped in the rock matrix quartz suggest they have reequilibrated with the matrix minerals during incipient retrograde reactions. The isochores from the densest inclusions observed in this study pass close to the inferred peak metamorphic conditions; other isochores suggest an episode of deformation and recrystallization at 275° C and 1.4 Kb. Using the density information preserved in all the inclusions, a convex-downward uplift path on a P-T diagram is inferred for these rocks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, 19010, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA

    Virginia B. Sisson & Maria Luisa Crawford

  2. Precambrian Division, Geological Survey of Canada, 588 Booth St., K1A 0E4, Ottowa, Ontario, Canada

    Peter H. Thompson

  3. Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    Virginia B. Sisson

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  1. Virginia B. Sisson
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  2. Maria Luisa Crawford
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  3. Peter H. Thompson
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Sisson, V.B., Crawford, M.L. & Thompson, P.H. CO2-Brine immiscibility at high temperatures, evidence from calcareous metasedimentary rocks. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 78, 371–378 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00375199

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00375199

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