OLIVINE FLOTATION IN MANTLE MELT

Molten komatiite and peridotite have been compressed in an octahedral multi-anvil device up to 10 GPa. Densities of the melts were measured at pressure intervals in the range 7 to 10 GPa by observing sinking and floating San Carlos olivines and synthetic forsterite marker spheres. The multi-anvil results for komatiite, when combined with piston-cylinder measurements done at 4 to 6 GPa and a calculated reference density at 10(5) Pa, yield a Birch-Murnaghan isothermal bulk modulus of (K1900C) = 26 GPa and pressure derivative K'= 4.25. The pressure of neutral buoyancy for olivine in komatiite is confirmed to be near 8 GPa as predicted in earlier work. Olivine flotation in the experimental komatiite commences at a pressure close to where the liquidus phase changes from olivine to denser garnet, leading to the possibility of density driven crystal sorting during fractionation. Molten peridotite (KLB-1) shows an isothermal compression (2000-degrees-C) of 0.065 g cm-3 GPa-1 in the interval 10(5) Pa to 8.2 GPa. The olivine/liquid peridotite density crossover is predicted to lie between 9 and 11 GPa, indicating that olivine flotation can operate at depths of 300-500 km in a molten peridotitic mantle.