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Consideration of the existence of hydrosilicate liquids (HSL) in nature can help in understanding the accumulation and transport of some mineral- and ore-forming components at the transition from magmas to hydrothermal fluids. We studied the experimental formation of HSL using a base system Na2O-SiO2-H2O with addition of NaF, NaCl and metallic Ta. The interaction between quartz and aqueous solution, performed at 1.5 kbar and 600°C and followed either by cooling or by quench, showed that the formation of HSL occurred when initial Na2O exceeded 2 wt %. Neither NaF nor NaCl have a significant effect on the formation of HSL. The HSL concentrates F, whereas Cl partitions into the aqueous fluid. With addition of Ta to the system, the HSL becomes metal-enriched. Natural analogs of experimental HSL can be found among “melt/fluid” inclusions entrapped in quartz and other minerals of miaroles in granite pegmatites and raremetal granites. The HSL is a novel medium enabling extreme concentrations of lithophile ore metals at the magmatic-hydrothermal transition.
Smirnov et al. (2012) studied this question.