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Carbonatite and silicate rocks occurring within a single magmatic complex may originate through liquid immiscibility. We thus experimentally determined carbonatite/silicate melt partition coefficients (Dcarbonate melt/silicate melt, hereafter D) for 45 elements to understand their systematics as a function of melt composition and to provide a tool for identifying the possible conjugate nature of silicate and carbonatite magmas. Static and, when necessary, centrifuging piston cylinder experiments were performed at 1-3 GPa, 1150-1260°C such that two well-separated melts resulted. Bulk compositions had Na K, Na ∼ K, and Na K; for the latter we also varied bulk H2O (0-4 wt %) and SiO2 contents. Oxygen fugacities were between iron-wüstite and slightly below hematite-magnetite and were not found to exert significant control on partitioning. Under dry conditions alkali and alkaline earth elements partition into the carbonatite melt, as did Mo and P (DMo >8, DP= 1·6-3·3). High field strength elements (HFSE) prefer the silicate melt, most strongly Hf (DHf = 0·04). The REE have partition coefficients around unity with DLa/Lu = 1·6-2·3. Transition metals have D < 1 except for Cu and V (DCu ∼ 1·3, DV = 0·95-2). The small variability of the partition coefficients in all dry experiments can be explained by a comparable width of the miscibility gap, which appears to be flat-topped in our dry bulk compositions. For all carbonatite and silicate melts, Nb/Ta and Zr/Hf fractionate by factors of 1·3-3·0, in most cases much more strongly than in silicate-oxide systems. With the exception of the alkalis, partition coefficients for the H2O-bearing systems are similar to those for the anhydrous ones, but are shifted in favour of the carbonatite melt by up to an order of magnitude. An increase of bulk silica and thus SiO2 in the silicate melt (from 35 to 69 wt %) has a similar effect. Two types of trace element partitioning with changing melt composition can be observed. The magnitude of th

Trace element partition coefficients between conjugate carbonatite-silicate melts are a suitable tool to test whether such natural magmas originated by liquid immiscibility. In the Intra-Apennine Magmatic Province, Central Italy, highly silica-undersaturated ultrapotassic kamafugites coexist with carbonate-rich rocks of controversial nature: a mantle origin and magmatic nature of the carbonatites are indicated by the primitive nature of some kamafugites and by mantle-debris occurring within the kamafugite-carbonate/carbonatite deposits. An alternative hypothesis suggests that the CO2 originates from crustal carbonate assimilation by a basaltic magma, resulting in silica undersaturation of the kamafugite rocks. This experimental study investigates whether carbonatite and kamafugite melts such as the Italian ones can be immiscible at upper mantle conditions. Partition coefficients between conjugate melts determined in this study are compared with calculated element partitioning between natural carbonatite/kamafugite pairs to test a possible origin of the carbonatites by liquid immiscibility. The experiments demonstrate that kamafugite and alkali-rich carbonatite melts are immiscible at 1.7 GPa, 1220 degrees C. Trace element partition coefficients obtained from static- and centrifuging piston cylinder experiments are within factor 5 from unity and deviate less than a factor of 2 from unity for 26 out of 37 trace elements investigated. The alkali- and earth alkali-elements have D-i >= 1, indicating that carbonatite melts in equilibrium with alkaline silicate melts should be at least as alkali-rich as the silicate melts. HFSE partition preferentially into the silicate melt. A comparison of the experimental partition coefficients with natural carbonatite-kamafugite pairs from the Intra Apennine Province reveals good agreement (except for the alkalis), supporting that liquid immiscibility could indeed explain the observed rock suites. Original carbonatite compositions a

Carbonatite and silicate rocks occurring within a single magmatic complex may originate through liquid immiscibility. We thus experimentally determined carbonatite/silicate melt partition coefficients (Dcarbonate melt/silicate melt, hereafter D) for 45 elements to understand their systematics as a function of melt composition and to provide a tool for identifying the possible conjugate nature of silicate and carbonatite magmas. Static and, when necessary, centrifuging piston cylinder experiments were performed at 1-3 GPa, 1150-1260°C such that two well-separated melts resulted. Bulk compositions had Na K, Na ∼ K, and Na K; for the latter we also varied bulk H2O (0-4 wt %) and SiO2 contents. Oxygen fugacities were between iron-wüstite and slightly below hematite-magnetite and were not found to exert significant control on partitioning. Under dry conditions alkali and alkaline earth elements partition into the carbonatite melt, as did Mo and P (DMo >8, DP= 1·6-3·3). High field strength elements (HFSE) prefer the silicate melt, most strongly Hf (DHf = 0·04). The REE have partition coefficients around unity with DLa/Lu = 1·6-2·3. Transition metals have D < 1 except for Cu and V (DCu ∼ 1·3, DV = 0·95-2). The small variability of the partition coefficients in all dry experiments can be explained by a comparable width of the miscibility gap, which appears to be flat-topped in our dry bulk compositions. For all carbonatite and silicate melts, Nb/Ta and Zr/Hf fractionate by factors of 1·3-3·0, in most cases much more strongly than in silicate-oxide systems. With the exception of the alkalis, partition coefficients for the H2O-bearing systems are similar to those for the anhydrous ones, but are shifted in favour of the carbonatite melt by up to an order of magnitude. An increase of bulk silica and thus SiO2 in the silicate melt (from 35 to 69 wt %) has a similar effect. Two types of trace element partitioning with changing melt composition can be observed. The magnitude of th