Isotopic and elemental partitioning of boron between hydrous fluid and silicate melt

Abstract

The fractionation of B and its isotopes between aqueous fluid and silicate melt has been studied from 550 to 1100 °C and 100-500 MPa. Fluid-melt partition coefficients are <1 for basaltic melt and >1 for rhyolite melt. This shows that B is not always strongly extracted from melts into hydrous fluids. Boron isotopic fractionation is large compared with the carbon and oxygen stable isotopic systems (especially at high T) and is most simply explained by differences in coordination (trigonal vs. tetrahedral) among coexisting phases. Combined with earlier measurements on illite-water (300- 350 °C), B isotopic fractionation defines a temperature-dependent trend from 300 to 1100 °C. Because of the large magnitude and apparent low sensitivity to bulk composition, B isotopic fractionation can be readily applied to studies of diagenesis, hydrothermal alteration of planetary bodies, subduction- zone processing and arc magma generation, and magma chamber evolution.