The effect of water on the viscosity of a haplogranitic melt under P-T-X conditions relevant to silicic volcanism

The viscosities of hydrous haplogranitic melts synthesized by hydrothermal fusion at 2 kbar pressure and 800 to 1040 degrees C have been measured at temperatures just above the glass transition and at a pressure of 1 bar using micropenetration techniques. The micropenetration viscometry has been performed in the viscosity range of 10(9) Pa s to 10(12) Pa s. The samples ranged in water content from 0.4 to 3.5 wt%. For samples with up to 2.5 wt% H2O, the water contents have been determined using infrared spectroscopy obtained before and after each viscometry experiment to be constant over the duration of the measurements. Above this water content a measurable loss of water occurs during the viscometry. The viscosity data illustrate an extremely nonlinear decrease in viscosity with added water. The viscosity drops drastically with the addition of 0.5 wt% of water and then shallows out at water contents of 2 wt%. An additional viscosity datum point obtained from the analysis of fluid inclusions in a water-saturated HPG8 confirms a near invariance of the viscosity with the addition of water between 2 and 6 wt%. These measurements may be compared directly with the data of Hess et al. (1995, in press) for the effects of excess alkali and alkaline earth oxides on the viscosity of HPG8 (also obtained at 1 bar). The viscosity of the melts, compared on an equivalent molar basis, increases in the order H2O < (Li2O < Na2O < K2O < Rb2O, Cs2O < BaO < SrO < CaO < MgO < BeO). The extraordinary decrease in melt viscosity with added water is poorly reproduced by the calculation scheme of Shaw (1972) for the range of water contents investigated here. The speciation of water in the quenched glasses can be used to quantify the dependence of the viscosity on hydroxyl content. Considering only the hydroxyl groups as active fluidizers in the hydrous melts the nonlinearity of the viscosity decrease and the difference with the effects of the alkali oxides becomes larger. Consequences for degassing calcalkaline rhyolite are discussed.