Dynamics of Oxidation of a Fe2+-Bearing Aluminosilicate (Basaltic) Melt.

Cooper, RF; Fanselow, JB; Weber, JKR; Merkley, DR; Poker, DB · Science · 1996

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and microscopy demonstrate that the approximately 1400°C oxidation of levitated droplets of a natural Fe2+-bearing aluminosilicate (basalt) melt occurs by chemical diffusion of Fe2+ and Ca2+ to the free surface of the droplet; internal oxidation of the melt results from the required counterflux of electron holes. Diffusion of an oxygen species is not required. Oxidation causes the droplets to go subsolidus; magnetite (Fe3O4) forms at the oxidation-solidification front with a morphology suggestive of a Liesegang-band nucleation process.