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Previous studies of hydrous glasses and melts with infrared spectroscopy have led to the conclusion that the IR combination peaks near 4500 and 5200 cm-1 reflect the existence of OH- (hydroxyl) groups and H2Omol water molecules in those materials. Here, we show that the glass chemical composition can impact profoundly the intensities and frequencies of the fundamental O-H stretching signal and, therefore, potentially those of the 4500 and 5200 cm-1 combination peaks. In alkali silicate glasses, compositional effects can give rise to peaks assigned to fundamental O-H stretching at frequencies as low as 2300 cm-1. This expanded range of Raman intensity assigned to O-H stretch is increasingly important as the ionic radius of the alkali metal increases. As a result, the combination of the fundamental O-H stretch in OH- groups with the Si-O-H stretch located near 910 cm-1 gives rise to a complex combination signal that can extend to frequencies much lower than 4200 cm-1. This combination signal then becomes unresolvable from the high-frequency limb of the band assigned to fundamental O-H stretch vibration in the infrared spectra. It follows that, when O-H stretch signals from OH- groups extend to below 3000 cm-1, the 4500 cm-1 peak does not represent the total OH- signal. Under such circumstances, this infrared peak may not be a good proxy for determining the concentration of OH- hydroxyl groups for glassy silicate materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water can form different chemical bonds with the ionic entities composing silicate melts. Because of that, its influence on the physico-chemical properties of magmas can vary with silicate composition and water content, temperature, and pressure. To further our understanding of how silicate chemical composition governs proton distribution in magmas, the environment of protons in hydrous alkali (Li, Na, K) silicate glasses was varied as a function of the type of alkali metal and total water content. From ¹H MAS NMR spectroscopy, H+ are distributed among five different structural environments in alkali silicate glasses. One of these environments is in the form of H2O molecules (H2Omol). The four others are the proton environments associated with Si-OH bonding, and perhaps also with M-OH bonding (with M = Li, Na, or K). Those environments differ in their O-O distance and extent of hydrogen bonding. H2Omol species are located in an environment with an O-O distance of ~290 pm. OH- groups are in environments with O-O distances from 240 to 305 pm. The ionic radius of the alkalis, and hence their ionic field strength, determines the fraction of water dissolved as H2Omol and OH- groups, as well as the distribution of protons in the various OH- environments. The mean volume of the H+ oxygen coordination sphere was calculated using the ¹H+ NMR signal intensity and the mean O-O distance around H+. Increasing ionic radius of the alkali metal in silicate glasses results in a decrease of this mean volume. The partial molar volume of water in the corresponding melts determined through other technics seems to vary in a comparable way. Therefore, the chemical composition of silicate melts may control the partial molar volume of dissolved water because of its influence on the structural environment of protons. This probably also plays a role in determining water solubility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raman spectroscopy can measure water concentrations of hydrous silicate glasses with several advantages such as: (1) high-spatial resolution of 1-2 µm²; (2) non-destructive character; and (3) easy access, without any specific sample preparation or mounting techniques. The latter reasons render Ra- man highly suitable for studying natural products, such as volcanic pumice and scoriae fragments. Two spectral regions can be distinguished in Raman spectra of hydrated silicate glasses: a low-wavenumber -1 region (15-1500 cm-1), which corresponds to vibrations of the silicate network, and a high-wavenumber -1 region (3100-3750 cm ), corresponding to the OH stretching vibrations of H2O molecules and OH groups. Behrens et al. (2006) have published empirical equations relating the area ratio between these two regions and the water content. However, the proposed internal calibrations depend on chemical composition of the glasses. In this paper, we reinvestigated the previous procedures to improve the background subtraction. Our results allow us to present a more general and linear calibration. Water concentrations up to 13 wt% can be measured for a broad range of natural silicate melts, from basalts to rhyolite (40 up to 80 wt% SiO2), using a single calibration curve with an absolute error of 0.2 wt%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]