P. Fulignati et al., Melt inclusion record of immiscibility between silicate, hydrosaline, and carbonate melts: Applications to skarn genesis at Mount Vesuvius, GEOLOGY, 29(11), 2001, pp. 1043-1046
Foid-bearing syenites and endoskarn xenoliths of the A.D. 472 Vesuvius erup
tion represent the magma chamber-carbonate wall-rock interface. Melt inclus
ions hosted in crystals from these rocks offer a rare opportunity to depict
the formation and the composition of metasomatic skarn-forming fluids at t
he peripheral part of a growing K-alkaline magma chamber disrupted by an ex
plosive eruption. Four principal types of melt inclusions represent highly
differentiated phonolite (type 1), hydrosaline melt (type 3), unmixed silic
ate-salt melts (type 2), and a complex chloride-carbonate melt with minor s
ulfates (type 4). The high-temperature (700-800 degreesC) magmatic-derived
hydrosaline melt is considered to be the main metasomatic agent for the ska
rn-forming reactions. The interaction between this melt (fluid) and carbona
te wall rocks produces a Na-K-Ca carbonate-chloride melt that shows immisci
bility between carbonate and chloride constituents at similar to 700 degree
sC in 1 atm experiments. This unmixing can be viewed as a possible mechanis
m for the origin of carbonatites associated with intrusion-related skarn sy
stems.