Quartz solubility in hydrothermal seawater: an experimental study and equation describing quartz solubility for up to 0.5 M NaCl solutions

Abstract

Quartz solubility in seawater was determined experimentally from 200° to 450°C in the pressure range from 200 to 1000 bars. The results confirm that quartz solubility is increased in seawater relative to distilled water. The seawater data were combined with literature data on quartz solubility, primarily in distilled water, to create a data base with almost 500 points. Based on this combined data set a new equation is proposed to describe quartz solubility over the temperature range from 45° to 900°C and pressure from <1 to 9860 bars. Its application to seafloor hydrothermal solutions suggests that previously calculated depths of circulation from the fluids, based on distilled water data, were too deep by approx. 0.5 km. -from Authors