Rheology of partially molten plagioclase containing wetting silica-rich anhydrous melt

This work explores the effects of melt chemistry on diffusion controlled creep of partially molten labradorite plagioclase (An50) at anhydrous conditions. Using sol-gel and hot pressing techniques we produced: (1) nominally melt-free samples, with <1 vol. per cent residual glass confined solely to multiple-grain junctions; (2) two types of partially molten samples, containing respectively ∼1 and ∼5 vol. per cent silica-rich partial melts, wetting numerous grain boundaries by thin (<10 nm) amorphous films. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that the amorphous phases of the latter materials contained ∼85 and 95 wt. per cent SiO2, thus representing different polymerization degrees. Infrared spectroscopy showed that the initial traces of water (∼0.05 wt. per cent) were dried out by annealing in air above 1100 °C. Uniaxial creep tests performed at temperatures and flow stresses ranging, respectively, between 1100-1250 °C and 3-60 MPa showed dominantly linear viscous flow, with a strong grain size dependence indicating grain boundary diffusion control. Counter-intuitively strength and activation energy increased with the content of melts. However, for the sample suite silica content covaries with melt proportion, and thus our results suggest that the kinetics of grain boundary diffusion controlled creep strongly depends on melt chemistry. Instead of acting as shortcut for diffusion, thin films of highly viscous amorphous phases may in turn considerably hinder grain boundary transport properties.