Synthetic fluid inclusions ‐ VI. Quantitative evaluation of the decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure

ABSTRACT The decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure has been evaluated using pure H 2 O synthetic inclusions formed by healing fractures in natural quartz. Three different modes of non‐elastic deformation, referred to as stretching, leakage or partial decrepitation, and total decrepitation have been observed. The internal pressure required to initiate non‐elastic deformation is inversely related to inclusion size according to the equation: internal pressure (kbar) = 4.26 D ‐0.423 where D is the inclusion diameter in microns. Regularly shaped inclusions require a higher internal pressure to initiate non‐elastic deformation than do irregularly shaped inclusions of similar size. Heating inclusions through the α/β quartz inversion results in mechanical instability in the quartz crystal and leads to mass decrepitation of inclusions owing to structural mismatches generated by pressure gradients in the quartz around each inclusion. Long‐term heating experiments (∼2 years) suggest that the internal pressure required to initiate non‐elastic deformation does not decrease significantly with time and indicates that short‐lived thermal fluctuations in natural systems should not alter the inclusion density and homogenization temperature. Inclusions that do exhibit decreased density (higher homogenization temperature) are, however, always accompanied by a change in shape from irregular to that of a negative crystal. Observations of this study are consistent with elasticity theory related to fracture generation and propagation around inclusions in minerals. These results indicate that an inclusion will not be influenced by a neighbouring inclusion, or other defect in the host phase, as long as the distance between the two is >2–4 diameters of the larger of the two inclusions.