Volcanic and geothermal redox engines

The redox (reduction-oxidation) potential is an essential variable that controls the chemical reactions of fluids in magmatic and associated geothermal systems. However, the evolution of the redox potential is difficult to trace from a magma's source at depth to the surface. The key is knowing that electron transfer is the twin face of the acid-base exchanges that drive charge transfer in the many reactions that occur in multiphase and chemically complex systems. The deduced redox reactivity can reveal many features about the evolution of a system's composition and the external factors that control it. As such, redox potential analysis is an important geochemical tool by which to monitor volcanoes and to explore geothermal systems.