Peter Ulmer

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Ulmer

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Peter

ORCID

0000-0001-9131-0669

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Publications 1 - 10 of 62

Seismic Attenuation During Magma Vesiculation: A Combination of Laboratory Constraints and Modeling
Pistone, Mattia; Fife, Julie L.; Tisato, Nicola; et al. (2021)
Geophysical Research Letters
Assessing the potential and likelihood of explosive eruptions is vital for almost 800 million people living near active volcanoes. Magma reservoirs are not directly accessible, limiting our capability to understand the prerequisites for an explosive eruption and our ability to perform experiments that simulate magmatic processes at depth. Therefore, deciphering volcanic precursors is key to forecasting volcanic eruptions. In this study, we used synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy to observe felsic magma vesiculation at high temperature (1,100°C) to establish the pre-eruptive conditions that favor explosive activity. Specifically, we studied the increase of seismic attenuation with increasing gas content during magma vesiculation. These results are applied to the natural range of volcanic tremors (0.2–5 Hz) to detect the proximity of gas-charged magma to the surface prior to volcanic eruption: gas-rich, crystal-free felsic magmas are detected at larger depth (40 MPa) than gas-rich, crystal-bearing systems (10 MPa).
Crystallisation and zircon saturation of calc-alkaline tonalite from the Adamello Batholith at upper crustal conditions: an experimental study
Marxer, Felix; Ulmer, Peter (2019)
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
The understanding of the geochemical and petrophysical evolution of magmas forming intermediate calc-alkaline batholiths at shallow crustal levels critically depends on knowledge of the phase equilibria relations along the liquid line of descent. Here, we present experimental results for a tonalitic system at a pressure of 200 MPa and under water-saturated conditions. Melting experiments were performed at temperatures between 700 and 1000 °C in externally heated HCM pressure vessels, with oxygen fugacity controlled close to the Ni–NiO buffer equilibrium (NNO) employing an argon–methane mixture as pressure medium and Co–Pd redox sensors to verify fO2 conditions. Natural rock powder of a medium-K tonalite from the Adamello Batholith in Northern Italy served as experimental starting material. Based on compositional data of stable phases in the run products and images of entire run charges, mass balance calculations as well as image processing were performed to investigate the evolution of the crystal/melt ratio with respect to temperature. Furthermore, compositional trends of minerals as well as the liquid line of descent of residual melts were obtained. Orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and plagioclase were identified as near-liquidus phases (below 990 °C). At 900 °C, amphibole joins the solid-phase assemblage at the expense of clinopyroxene, indicating the existence of a peritectic relationship. After an initial near-linear decrease with temperature, residual melt fractions exhibit a plateau of 45–55 vol. % between 750 and 850 °C, followed by a rapid decrease coinciding with quartz saturation at 725 °C. Compositions of residual liquids evolve along a typical calc-alkaline differentiation trend with decreasing temperature (increasing SiO2 and decreasing TiO2, Al2O3, CaO, MgO and FeO contents) and become peraluminous below 900 °C. Intermediate to acidic rocks from the Adamello follow the experimental liquid line of descent indicating that the observed compositional spread of the natural intermediate composition rock record can be explained by low-pressure magma differentiation and liquid extraction. Experimentally determined zircon saturation levels are at low temperatures distinctly lower compared to existing and often used Zr-saturation models, but fully consistent with observed and modelled Zr-evolution trends from the natural rock record of the Southern Adamello Batholith inferring that zircon saturation in these intermediate to felsic plutonic rocks occurred at 800–830 °C corresponding to a melt fraction of about 50 vol. %.
Fluid Evolution of the Monte Mattoni Mafic Complex, Adamello Batholith, Northern Italy: Insights from Fluid Inclusion Analysis and Thermodynamic Modeling
Hennings, Sibylle K; Wagner, Thomas; Ulmer, Peter; et al. (2017)
Journal of Petrology
Biotite as a recorder of an exsolved Li-rich volatile phase in upper-crustal silicic magma reservoirs
Ellis, Ben S.; Neukampf, Julia; Bachmann, Olivier; et al. (2022)
Geology
The magmatic-hydrothermal transition is key in controlling the fate of many economically important elements due to the change in partitioning when melt and magmatic fluid coexist. Despite its increasing economic importance, the behavior of lithium (Li) in such environments remains poorly known. We illustrate how compositionally unusual biotites from the rhyolitic Bishop Tuff (California, USA) and Kos Plateau Tuff (Greece) may contain a magmatic volatile phase trapped between layers of biotite crystals. Despite originating in pristine deposits and showing the expected X-ray diffraction spectra, these biotites return low (<95 wt%) analytical totals via electron microprobe (EMP) consistent with the presence of considerable amounts of light elements (non-measurable by EMP). Lithium contents and isotope ratios in these biotites are remarkable, with abundances reaching >2300 ppm, exceptionally light Li isotopic compositions (δ7Li as low as –27.6‰), and large isotopic fractionation between biotite and corresponding bulk samples (Δ7Libt–bulk as low as –36.5‰). Other mineral phases, groundmass glass, and melt inclusions from the same units do not support an extremely Li-rich melt prior to eruption. Biotites from phonolitic systems (Tenerife [Canary Islands] and Campi Flegrei [Italy]) do not show such extreme compositional differences, with biotite and melt showing roughly equivalent Li contents, underscored by significantly reduced Δ7Libt–bulk to a maximum of –10.9‰. We ascribe the difference in behavior to the near-liquidus appearance of biotite in alkaline magmatic suites, before widespread exsolution of a magmatic volatile phase in the magma reservoir, while in rhyolitic suites, biotite crystallizes at low temperature, trapping the coexisting exsolved fluid phase in the reservoir.
Species diffusion in clinopyroxene solid solution in the diopside–anorthite system
Lierenfeld, Matthias B.; Zhong, Xin; Reusser, Eric; et al. (2019)
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
The coupled multicomponent diffusion of the species Ca2Si2O6, CaAl2SiO6 and Mg2Si2O6 was determined in diopside crystals in the diopside/anorthite (Di/An) system at temperatures (T) of 1110–1260 °C and oxygen fugacities (fO2) between 1.0 log unit below and above the fayalite–magnetite–quartz equilibrium (FMQ ± 1). Diffusion couples were prepared by the seed overgrowth technique. Element concentration profiles were measured perpendicular to the rim/core interface by step-scanning profiling with a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM). The multicomponent diffusion matrix was solved by fitting its eigenvalues (λ) and eigenvectors (v) to the measured concentration profiles. The full diffusion matrix D can be recovered by using the formula D=PΛP−1 resulting in the following equation: DDi/An=[1.00−0.38−0.671.00][λ1(T)00λ2(T)][1.00−0.38−0.671.00]−1. The eigenvalues (λ1 and λ2) represent upper limit values and are described by the following Arrhenius-type equations: λ1(Di/An)=10−15.98±1.17×exp[−114.4±32.8kJ/molRT], λ2(Di/An)=10−16.23±1.17×exp[−114.4±32.8kJ/molRT], where λ1 and λ2 are the first and second eigenvalue of the diffusion matrix in m2 s−1, R is the gas constant and T is the temperature in K. The dominant eigenvalue (λ1) is one quarter order of magnitude larger than the second eigenvalue (λ2). The eigenvectors are constant for all experiments inferring that the entire D matrix can be described with the eigenvalues as the only T-dependent parameter. Additionally, the derived diffusion data and modeling approach were applied to constrain the duration of magmatic processes recorded in zoned clinopyroxene (cpx) phenocrysts from a basaltic, post-plutonic dyke of the Tertiary Adamello batholiths (N-Italy). The results reveal residence times of the overgrown cpx prior to final emplacement in the range of 0.25–1.7 years (lower limit values) testifying that the data and method can be applied to model cpx diffusion profiles in complex natural cpx.
Effect of redox on Fe–Mg–Mn exchange between olivine and melt and an oxybarometer for basalts
Blundy, Jon; Melekhova, Elena; Ziberna, Luca; et al. (2020)
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
The Fe–Mg exchange coefficient between olivine (ol) and melt (m), defined as KdFe𝑇�−Mg = (Feol/Fem)·(Mgm/Mgol), with all FeT expressed as Fe2+, is one of the most widely used parameters in petrology. We explore the effect of redox conditions on KdFe𝑇�−Mg using experimental, olivine-saturated basaltic glasses with variable H2O (≤ 7 wt%) over a wide range of fO2 (iron-wüstite buffer to air), pressure (≤ 1.7 GPa), temperature (1025–1425 °C) and melt composition. The ratio of Fe3+ to total Fe (Fe3+/∑Fe), as determined by Fe K-edge µXANES and/or Synchrotron Mössbauer Source (SMS) spectroscopy, lies in the range 0–0.84. Measured Fe3+/∑Fe is consistent (± 0.05) with published algorithms and appears insensitive to dissolved H2O. Combining our new data with published experimental data having measured glass Fe3+/∑Fe, we show that for Fo65–98 olivine in equilibrium with basaltic and basaltic andesite melts, KdFe𝑇�−Mg decreases linearly with Fe3+/∑Fe with a slope and intercept of 0.3135 ± 0.0011. After accounting for non-ideal mixing of forsterite and fayalite in olivine, using a symmetrical regular solution model, the slope and intercept become 0.3642 ± 0.0011. This is the value at Fo50 olivine; at higher and lower Fo the value will be reduced by an amount related to olivine non-ideality. Our approach provides a straightforward means to determine Fe3+/∑Fe in olivine-bearing experimental melts, from which fO2 can be calculated. In contrast to KdFe𝑇�−Mg, the Mn–Mg exchange coefficient, KdMn−Mg, is relatively constant over a wide range of P–T–fO2 conditions. We present an expression for KdMn−Mg that incorporates the effects of temperature and olivine composition using the lattice strain model. By applying our experimentally-calibrated expressions for KdFe𝑇�−Mg and KdMn−Mg to olivine-hosted melt inclusions analysed by electron microprobe it is possible to correct simultaneously for post-entrapment crystallisation (or dissolution) and calculate melt Fe3+/∑Fe to a precision of ≤ 0.04.
Fractional crystallization of primitive, hydrous arc magmas: an experimental study at 0.7 GPa
Nandedkar, Rohit H.; Ulmer, Peter; Müntener, Othmar (2014)
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
Differentiation of mantle-derived, hydrous, basaltic magmas is a fundamental process to produce evolved intermediate to SiO2-rich magmas that form the bulk of the middle to shallow continental and island arc crust. This study reports the results of fractional crystallization experiments conducted in a piston cylinder apparatus at 0.7 GPa for hydrous, calc-alkaline to arc tholeiitic magmas. Fractional crystallization was approached by synthesis of starting materials representing the liquid composition of the previous, higher temperature experiment. Temperatures ranged from near-liquidus at 1,170 °C to near-solidus conditions at 700 °C. H2O contents varied from 3.0 to more than 10 wt%. The liquid line of descent covers the entire compositional range from olivine–tholeiite (1,170 °C) to high-silica rhyolite (700 °C) and evolves from metaluminous to peraluminous compositions. The following crystallization sequence has been established: olivine → clinopyroxene → plagioclase, spinel → orthopyroxene, amphibole, titanomagnetite → apatite → quartz, biotite. Anorthite-rich plagioclase and spinel are responsible for a marked increase in SiO2-content (from 51 to 53 wt%) at 1,040 °C. At lower temperatures, fractionation of amphibole, plagioclase and Fe–Ti oxide over a temperature interval of 280 °C drives the SiO2 content continuously from 53 to 78 wt%. Largest crystallization steps were recorded around 1,040 °C and at 700 °C. About 40 % of ultramafic plutonic rocks have to crystallize to generate basaltic–andesitic liquids, and an additional 40 % of amphibole–gabbroic cumulate to produce granitic melts. Andesitic liquids with a liquidus temperature of 1,010 °C only crystallize 50 % over an 280 °C wide range to 730 °C implying that such liquids form mobile crystal mushes (<50 % crystals) in long-lived magmatic systems in the middle crust, allowing for extensive fractionation, assimilation and hybridization with periodic replenishment of more mafic magmas from deeper magma reservoirs.
Ilmenite-silicate relations in the system Fe-Mg-Ti-Cr-Al-Si-O as a function of pressure, temperature and bulk composition
Semytkivska, Nina; Ulmer, Peter (2008)
EOS
Chlorine partitioning between granitic melt and H2O-CO2-NaCl fluids in the Earth’s upper crust and implications for magmatic-hydrothermal ore genesis
Hsu, Ying-Jui; Zajacz, Zoltán; Ulmer, Peter; et al. (2019)
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Large strain experiments on crystal- and bubble-bearing silicic magmas
Pistone, Mattia; Caricchi, Luca; Burlini, Luigi; et al. (2009)
EOS

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