Exchange of Na+ and K+ between water vapor and feldspar phases at high temperature and low vapor pressure

In order to determine whether gas (steam) containing a small amount of dissolved alkali chloride is effective in promoting base exchange of Na⁺ and K⁺ among alkali feldspars and coexisting brine or brine plus solid salt, experiments were carried out at 400–700°C and steam densities ranging down to less than 0.05. For bulk compositions rich in potassium, the low pressure results are close to previous high-pressure results in composition of the fluid and coexisting solid phase. However, when the bulk composition is more sodic, alkali feldspars are relatively richer in potassium at low pressure than at high pressure. This behaviour corresponds to enrichment of potassium in the gas phase relative to coexisting brine and precipitation of solid NaCl when the brine plus gas composition becomes moderately sodic.

The gas phase is very effective in promoting base exchange between coexisting alkali feldspars at high temperature and low water pressure. This suggests that those igneous rocks which contain coexisting alkali feldspars out of chemical equilibrium either remained very dry during the high-temperature part of their cooling history or that the pore fluid was a gas containing very little potassium relative to sodium.