There is a special reason for reviewing this book at this time: it is the 50th edition of a compendium that is known and used frequently in most chemical and physical laboratories in many parts of the world. Surely, a publication that has been published for 56 years, withstanding the vagaries of science in this century, must have had something to offer. There is another reason: while the book is a standard fixture in most chemical and physical laboratories, including those in medical centers, it is not as frequently seen in the laboratories of physician's offices (those either in solo or group practice). I believe that the Handbook can be useful in those laboratories. One of the reasons, among others, is that the various basic items of information it offers may be helpful in new tests, either physical or chemical, which are continuously being published. The basic information may relate

Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

The deep carbon cycle and melting in Earth's interior

Volcanoes are an expression of their underlying magmatic systems. Over the past three decades, the classical focus on upper crustal magma chambers has expanded to consider magmatic processes throughout the crust. A transcrustal perspective must balance slow (plate tectonic) rates of melt generation and segregation in the lower crust with new evidence for rapid melt accumulation in the upper crust before many volcanic eruptions. Reconciling these observations is engendering active debate about the physical state, spatial distribution, and longevity of melt in the crust. Here we review evidence for transcrustal magmatic systems and highlight physical processes that might affect the growth and stability of melt-rich layers, focusing particularly on conditions that cause them to destabilize, ascend, and accumulate in voluminous but ephemeral shallow magma chambers.

/pdf/vertically-extensive-and-unstable-magmatic-systems-a-unified-i071ecn7vp.pdf

Vertically extensive and unstable magmatic systems: A unified view of igneous processes

Magmatic to hydrothermal metal fluxes in convergent and collided margins

Carbon fluxes in subduction zones can be better constrained by including new estimates of carbon concentration in subducting mantle peridotites, consideration of carbonate solubility in aqueous fluid along subduction geotherms, and diapirism of carbon-bearing metasediments. Whereas previous studies concluded that about half the subducting carbon is returned to the convecting mantle, we find that relatively little carbon may be recycled. If so, input from subduction zones into the overlying plate is larger than output from arc volcanoes plus diffuse venting, and substantial quantities of carbon are stored in the mantle lithosphere and crust. Also, if the subduction zone carbon cycle is nearly closed on time scales of 5–10 Ma, then the carbon content of the mantle lithosphere + crust + ocean + atmosphere must be increasing. Such an increase is consistent with inferences from noble gas data. Carbon in diamonds, which may have been recycled into the convecting mantle, is a small fraction of the global carbon inventory.

/pdf/reevaluating-carbon-fluxes-in-subduction-zones-what-goes-5cip4a8zv6.pdf

Reevaluating carbon fluxes in subduction zones, what goes down, mostly comes up.

A case for CO2-rich arc magmas

Magma degassing processes are commonly elucidated by studies of melt inclusions in erupted phenocrysts and measurements of gas discharge at volcanic vents, allied to experimentally constrained models of volatile solubility. Here we develop an alternative experimental approach aimed at directly simulating decompression-driven, closed-system degassing of basaltic magma in equilibrium with an H^C^O^S^Cl fluid under oxidized conditions (fO2 of 1·0^2· 4l og units above the Ni^NiO buffer). Synthetic experimental starting materials were based on basaltic magmas erupted at the persistently degassing volcanoes of Stromboli (Italy) and Masaya (Nicaragua) with an initial volatile inventory matched to the most undegassed melt inclusions from each volcano. Experiments were run at 25^400 MPa under super-liquidus conditions (11508C). Run product glasses and starting materials were analysed by electron microprobe, secondary ion mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Karl-Fischer titration, Fe 2þ /Fe 3þ colorimetry and CS analyser. The composition of the exsolved vapour in each run was determined by mass balance. Our results show that H2O/ CO2 ratios increase systematically with decreasing pressure, whereas CO2/S ratios attain a maximum at pressures of 100^300 MPa. S is preferentially released over Cl at low pressures, leading to a sharp increase in vapour S/Cl ratios and a sharp drop in the S/Cl ratios of glasses. This accords with published measurements of volatile concentrations in melt inclusion and groundmass glasses at Stromboli (and Etna). Experiments with different S abundances show that the H2O and CO2 contents of the melt at fluid saturation are not affected. The CO2 solubility in experiments using both sets of starting materials is well matched to calculated solubilities using published models. Models consistently overestimate H2O solubilities for the Stromboli-like composition, leading to calculated vapour compositions that are more CO2-rich and calculated degassing trajectories that are more strongly curved than observed in experiments. The difference is less acute for the Masaya-like composition, emphasizing the important compositional dependence of solubility and melt^ vapour partitioning. Our novel experimental method can be readily extended to other bulk compositions.

Fred Witham

Papers

A case for CO2-rich arc magmas

Experimental Simulation of Closed-System Degassing in the System Basalt–H2O–CO2–S–Cl

SolEx: A model for mixed COHSCl-volatile solubilities and exsolved gas compositions in basalt

Stability of lava lakes

Conduit convection driving persistent degassing at basaltic volcanoes