PARTIAL DEHYDRATION OF LAUMONTITE: THERMODYNAMIC CONSTRAINTS AND PETROGENETIC IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Laumontite is a common zeolite mineral indicative of low-grade metamorphism of lavas and volcaniclastic sediments. Stoichiometric laumontite (CaAl2Si4O12.4.5H2O) dehydrates in air at 298.15 K, 1 bar to leonhardite (CaAl2Si4O12.3.5H2O) via loss of water from the W1 crystallographic site. Consideration of reported X-ray diffraction and calorimetric data indicates that the standard molal volume and entropy for dehydration of laumontite to leonhardite + liquid water are ~13 cc/mol and ~8 cal/molK, respectively, at 298.15 K, 1 bar. Equilibrium between laumontite and leonhardite occurs at 70 to 80% relative humidity at 298.15 K, 1 bar, corresponding to a standard molal Gibbs energy and enthalpy of reaction of ~170±40 and ~2630±100 cal/mol, respectively. Calculated univariant equilibrium for this reaction is nearly linear from 46±3°C at 1 bar to 235±3°C at 5000 bar. Comparison of geological observations with these results suggests that laumonite forms as 'leonhardite' during metamorphism and diagenesis. Consideration of 'leonhardite', instead of laumonite, in low-grade metamorphic phase relations facilitates prediction of the relative stabilities of zeolites in natural and geologic systems, where calculated entropies of reaction incorrectly predict that assemblages bearing fully hydrated laumonite are stable at lower temperatures than the zeolites heulandite and stilbite.