Hydrogen and deuterium diffusion in non-stoichiometric spinel

Abstract

High pressure/temperature annealing experiments are used to determine diffusivities of H+ and D+ in non-stoichiometric spinel, a low-pressure analogue for nominally anhydrous minerals in Earth’s mantle. Data are fitted to the following Arrhenius law: Diffusivity (m2/s) = 4 ± 1 × 10−12 exp(−54 ± 2 kJ mol−1/RT). At low temperatures, H+ and D+ diffusion in non-stoichiometric spinel is charge balanced by flux of O vacancies, with infrared data consistent with protonation of both octahedral and tetrahedral O–O edges in non-stoichiometric spinel, and additional fine structure due to Mg–Al mixing and/or coupling of structurally incorporated H+ with cation vacancies. Absence of changes in the fine structure of O–H absorption bands indicates that H+ can become locally coupled and uncoupled to other defects during bulk diffusion. As such, proton conductivity in spinel group minerals, arising from faster flux of uncoupled H+, can only be calculated from H+ mobility data if the extent of defect coupling is constrained.