Ternary system H2O-CO2-NaCl at high T-P parameters: An empirical mixing model

New experimental data on the solubility of NaCl in gaseous CO2 were obtained at pressures (P) of 30-70 MPa and temperatures of 623 and 673 K on experimental equipment making possible to sample a portion of the gas in the course of the experiment. The new measures have demonstrated that the NaCl solubility increases with increasing temperature (T) and pressure and is approximately four to five orders of magnitude higher than the saturated vapor pressure of NaCl at the corresponding temperature. The paper also reports newly obtained experimental data on the equilibrium conditions of the reaction of talc decomposition into enstatite and quartz at a variable H2O/NaCl ratio in the fluid. The results of the experiments validate the empirical equations previously suggested for H2O and NaCl activities in concentrated aqueous salt solutions that can be used in describing silica-saturated fluids at high T-P parameters. A new empirical equation is suggested for the Gibbs free mixing energy in the H2O-CO2-NaCl ternary system, with the parameters of the equation calibrated against experimental data on phase equilibria in marginal binary systems and on the location of the boundary of the region of homogeneous three-component fluid according to data on synthetic fluid inclusions in quartz.