Experimental Study of the Process of Interaction of Hydrogen with Igneous Melts in the Conditions of the Earth’s Crust

Abstract —We report new experimental data on the interaction of igneous melts with hydrogen at temperatures of 1100–1250 °C and hydrogen pressures of 1–100 MPa in strongly reducing conditions: fO2=10−12−10−14. The experiments were conducted using an original high-gas-pressure unit equipped with a unique device that provides long-term experiments at high temperatures and pressures of hydrogen. The experiments used natural samples of igneous rocks: the magnesian basalt of the Northern Breakthrough of the Tolbachik Volcano (Kamchatka) and the andesite of the Avacha Volcano (Kamchatka). On the basis of the experiments, the following features of the process of interaction of hydrogen with igneous melts have been established: (1) Despite the high reduction potential of the H2–igneous melt system, the reactions of hydrogen oxidation and complete reduction of oxides of metals of variable valence in the melt do not go to the end. The cessation of redox reactions in basaltic and andesitic melts is due to the formation of H2O in the melt, which buffers the reduction potential of hydrogen; (2) The initially homogeneous igneous melt becomes heterogeneous: The formed H2O dissolves in the melt and in the fluid phase (at first pure hydrogen), and melts of variable, more acidic composition and small metallic isolations of the liquation structure are formed; (3) The complex process of metal–silicate liquation in magmatic melts when they interact with hydrogen can be carried out at real magma temperatures in nature (≤1200 °C), significantly lower than the corresponding melting points of iron and its alloys with nickel and cobalt; (4) The structure and dimensions of the experimentally established metal isolations are consistent with natural data on the finds of small quantities of native metals, primarily iron and its alloys with nickel and cobalt, in igneous rocks of different compositions and genesis.