A simple model of Rn-222 accumulation leading to Pb-210 excesses in volcanic rocks
While most rocks from active volcanoes display ((210)pb/Ra-226) activity ratios lower than or close to the equilibrium value of 1, several other have ratios much higher than 1. Transfer of Rn-222 by magmatic volatiles has often been advocated to explain both Pb-210 deficits and excesses. We develop...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2010
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.02.048 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00496398 |
Summary: | While most rocks from active volcanoes display ((210)pb/Ra-226) activity ratios lower than or close to the equilibrium value of 1, several other have ratios much higher than 1. Transfer of Rn-222 by magmatic volatiles has often been advocated to explain both Pb-210 deficits and excesses. We develop here a model to account for Pb-210 excesses through Rn-222 accumulation. We show that large Pb-210 excesses can be readily obtained, even for moderate ratios of degassing magma over accumulating magma, in a closed-system model where the Rn-222 atoms produced by decay of Ra-226 in the degassing magma are continuously extracted by a gas phase. For a given duration of volatile transfer, relative Pb-210 excesses are expected to be much larger than Pb-210 deficits. This model is applied to samples from Santorini (Aegean arc) and Surtsey (Iceland) both of which show high ((210)pb/Ra-226) ratios of 6.7 and 2.3 respectively at the time of eruption. The agreement with field data suggests that Rn-222 accumulation leading to Pb-210 excesses might be a rather common process in zoned magma chambers as well as in individual lava flows, and that it can be described by a closed-system model. |
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