Experimental study on the effects of crustal temperature and composition on assimilation with fractional crystallization at the floor of magma chambers

When a hot basaltic magma is emplaced into continental crust or a pre-existing silicic magma chamber, the processes of assimilation with fractional crystallization (AFC) are likely to control the liquid line of descent of the magma. These processes are particularly important at the floor of the magma chamber because evolved light liquids generated by floor melting readily mix with the overlying basaltic magma. In order to clarify the effects of temperature and composition of the floor on the AFC processes, we experimentally investigated simultaneous melting and crystallization of a NH₄Cl–H₂O binary eutectic system. In the experiments, evolution of temperature and compositional profiles of a hot solution overlying a cold solid mixture of variable initial temperatures and compositions were measured. The initial NH₄Cl concentrations of solid and liquid are chosen to be higher than the eutectic composition, such that the density change of the experimental material by crystallization and melting is qualitatively the same as that of natural magmas and crusts. The results show that a mushy layer forms at the floor due to simultaneous crystallization and (partial) melting and that the liquid evolves due to mixing with liquids released by crystallization and melting. The ratio of melting mass to crystallization mass (M/C ratio) depends on the initial floor temperature and composition. As the initial floor temperature decreases, the rate of melting largely decreases, so that the M/C ratio becomes smaller. As the initial NH₄Cl concentration of the solid floor decreases, the degree of partial melting of the floor increases; however, it does not necessarily result in an increase in the M/C ratio. The higher melt fraction of the mushy layer increases permeability within the mushy layer, so that vertical exchange between the liquid in the mushy layer and the more concentrated overlying liquid is enhanced. This effect promotes crystallization in the mushy layer, and decreases the M/C ratio. It is suggested that the M/C ratio during AFC processes depends on details of the mixing process in the liquid layer such as spacing and meandering of buoyant plumes.     

Magma dynamics, crystallization, and chemical differentiation of the 1959 Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii, revisited

Using constraints from an extensive database of geological and geochemical observations along with results from fluid mechanical studies of convection in magma chambers, we identify the main physical processes at work during the solidification of the 1959 Kilauea Iki lava lakes. In turn, we investigate their quantitative influence on the crystallization and chemical differentiation of the magma, and on the development of the internal structure of the lava lake. In contrast to previous studies, vigorous stirring in the magma, driven predominately by the descent of dense crystal-laden thermal plumes from the roof solidification front and the ascent of buoyant compositional plumes due to the in situ growth of olivine crystals at the floor, is predicted to have been an inevitable consequence of very strong cooling at the roof and floor. The flow is expected to have caused extensive but imperfect mixing over most of the cooling history of the magma, producing minor compositional stratification at the roof and thermal stratification at the floor. The efficient stirring of the large roof cooling is expected to have resulted in significant internal nucleation of olivine crystals, which ultimately settled to the floor. Additional forcing due to either crystal sedimentation or the ascent of gas bubbles is not expected to have increased significantly the amount of mixing. In addition to convection in the magma, circulation driven by the convection of buoyant interstitial melt in highly permeable crystal-melt mushes forming the roof and the floor of the lava lake is envisaged to have produced a net upward flow of evolved magma from the floor during solidification. In the floor zone, mush convection may have caused the formation of axisymmetric chimneys through which evolved magma drained from deep within the floor into the overlying magma and potentially the roof. We hypothesize that the highly evolved, pipe-like ‘vertical olivine-rich bodies’ (VORBs) [Bull. Volcanol. 43 (1980) 675] observed in the floor zone, of the lake are fossil chimneys. In the roof zone, buoyant residual liquid both produced at the roof solidification front and gained from the floor as a result of incomplete convective mixing is envisaged to have percolated or ‘leaked‘ into the overlying highly-permeable cumulate, displacing less buoyant interstitial melt downward. The results from Rayleigh fractionation-type models formulated using boundary conditions based on a quantitative understanding of the convection in the magma indicate that most of the incompatible element variation over the height of the lake can be explained as a consequence of a combination of crystal settling and the extensive but imperfect convective mixing of buoyant residual liquid released from the floor solidification front. The remaining chemical variation is understood in terms of the additional influences of mush convection in the roof and floor on the vertical distribution of incompatible elements. Although cooling was concentrated at the roof of the lake, the floor zone is found to be thicker than the roof zone, implying that it grew more quickly. The large growth rate of the floor is explained as a consequence of a combination of the substantial sedimentation of olivine crystals and more rapid in situ crystallization due to both a higher liquidus temperature and enhanced cooling resulting from imperfect thermal and chemical mixing.     

Some thermal problems associated with magma migration

The mechanisms by which magma migrates from the point in the earth's interior where melting occurs to the earth's surface are poorly understood. In this paper several aspects of this problem are examined. Magma can migrate upward due to its differential buoyancy on the scale of crystalline grains or as large dispairs. Magma transport is an effective means of heat transport. Magma transport at a rate of 0.15 cm/yr is equivalent to a heat flow of 10^-6 cal/cm² s. If magma encounters country rock witha lower melting point the original magma is likely to solidify while melting the country rock. This would be an effective mechanism of purging silicic rocks and incomparable elements from the lower crust. Under some circumstances magma must penetrate up to 100 km or more of cold lithospheric rock. In order for this magma to reach the surface without solidification a heated path must be provided. The heating of this path requires the solidification of some magma. It is estimated that magma penetrates the lithosphere in about 5000 years and that the crack is lined by several hundred meters of frozen basalt.     

Origin of earliest planetary crust: role of compositional convection

The formation of earliest stable planetary crust poses the following dilemma. All surface crusts formed by direct quenching of planetary-scale magma are mafic and dense, and will founder. All felsic crystals light enough to float will form only after protracted differentiation and will grow too slowly to be separated from their parent magma on the short timescale of near-surface residence. Early crust must be intrinsically stable to accretionary bombardment in order to survive, hence it must float. One solution is to make pop-up felsic crust on a rapid time scale by collecting the lighter evolved liquid, not the crystals. Such a liquid is produced by solute rejection at depth from growing mafic crystals, and it rises by compositional convection. It stirs and cools the magma and reduces the accretionary thermal maximum, perhaps to zero. It has a high viscosity and high barrier to nucleation, hence may coalesce metastably. Near the surface, rapid crystallization will follow spontaneous nucleation. Rafts and rockbergs will coalesce to form the earliest crust. On the moon, this is anorthositic. On the earth, the presence of water enhances the silica content of the network-rich liquid and gives rise to tonalite. Existing ancient tonalites may reflect an original tonalitic crust. Modern oceanic rhyolites and trondhjemites may owe their existence to a similar process of liquid collection, and could therefore serve as a test of the crust-forming hypothesis.     

Replenishment of a mafic magma in a zoned felsic magma chamber beneath Rishiri Volcano, Japan

The trachytic Tanetomi lava from Rishiri Volcano, northern Japan, provides useful information concerning how a replenished mafic magma mixes with a compositionally zoned felsic magma in a magma chamber. The Tanetomi lava was erupted in the order of Lower lava 1 (LL1, 59.2-59.8 wt.% in SiO₂), Lower lava 2 (LL2, 58.4-59.1 wt.%), and Upper lava (UL, 59.9-65.1 wt.%). Evidence for mixing with a mafic magma is observed only in the LL2, in which a greater amount of crystals derived from the mafic magma occurs in rocks with higher SiO₂ content. The whole-rock compositional trend of the Tanetomi lavas is fairly smooth except for the LL2 lava composition, which scatter along the main composition trend. There is no reasonable composition of basaltic magma on the extrapolation of the LL2 composition trend, and the trend cannot be explained by a simple two-component magma mixing. Before the replenishment, the felsic magma was zoned in composition (58-65 wt.% in SiO₂) and temperature (1030-920°C) in the magma chamber located at the pressure of ~2 kbar. The compositional variation of the main felsic magma was produced by extraction of a fractionated interstitial melt from mush zones along the chamber walls and its subsequent mixing with the main magma (boundary layer fractionation). The LL1 magma tapped the magma chamber soon after the replenishment, before the mafic magma mixed with the overall felsic magma. Then the basalt magma mixed heterogeneously with the upper part of the felsic magma by forced convection as a fountain during injection. The mixing of the basalt magma with compositionally zoned felsic magma resulted in the characteristic composition trend of the LL2. The fraction of basaltic magma in the LL2 magma is estimated to be at most 10%. Despite such a small proportion, the basalt magma was mixed completely with the felsic magma, probably because the crystallinity of undercooled basalt magma was low enough to behave as a liquid.     

Eutectic between wollastonite II and calcite contrasted with thermal barrier in MgO-SiO2-CO2 at 30 kilobars,with applications to kimberlite-carbonatite petrogenesis

In the join CaCO₃-CaSiO₃ at 30 kbars, calcite melts at 1615°C, wollastonite II at 1600°C, and a binary eutectic occurs at 1365°C with liquid composition 43 wt.% CaCO₃, 57 wt.% CaSiO₃. The eutectic liquid quenches to a glass with few quench crystals. In the join MgCO₃-MgSiO₃ at 30 kbars, magnesite melts at 1590°C, enstatite at 1837°C, and the fields for the primary crystallization of magnesite and enstatite are separated by a thermal barrier near 1900°C for the melting of forsterite in the presence of CO₂. Only about 10 wt.% MgSiO₃ dissolves in the carbonate liquid. These data, are considered together with incomplete results for joins CaMgSi₂O₆-CaMg(CO₃)₂, CaMgSi₂O₆-MgCO₃, CaMgSi₂O₆-CaCO₃, and other published data in the system CaO-MgO-SiO₂-CO₂. A thermal barrier separates the silicate and carbonate liquids in MgO-SiO₂-CO₂ but, in the quaternary system, silicate liquids with dissolved CO₂ can follow fractionation paths around the forsterite field to the fields for the primary crystallization of carbonates. This suggests that fractional crystallization of CO₂-bearing ultrabasic magma at 100 km depth can produce residual carbonatite magma.     

Degassing of stratified magma by compositional convection

A new model is proposed for passive degassing from sub-volcanic magma chambers. The water content in stably stratified shallow magma chamber will be equated to its solubility at the upper boundary by convection. Water from a lower layer high in water content can enrich the contact zone of the upper layer and lead to further convective overturn of this boundary layer. A complete set of equations describing convection with bubble formation and dissolution is reduced to a simplified form by assuming a small bubble content. The development and pattern of flow driven by vesiculation is modeled numerically in a 2D magma chamber for relatively low Raleigh numbers (5×10⁵). Bubbles rising from the magma will collect near the roof in a layer of 8–10 vol% and then escape upward to fumaroles. The Stokes flux of bubbles escaping from an andesitic magma with viscosity 10⁴ P and a top surface of about 500×500 m corresponds with observed total magmatic water fluxes of 35 kg/s. Pressure within the chamber is buffered by elastic (and local visco-elastic) deformations in the solid rocks bounding the chamber to the range between ambient and close to lithostatic values. In a chamber closed to fresh magma inputs, the decrease in volume due to such gentle volatile escape lowers the reference pressure. Bubbles flux from the lower layer induced by variation of the saturation level around stratification boundary may be efficient mechanism for the water transport between layers.     

Mass balance and phase density constraints on early differentiation of chondritic mantle

A surprisingly simple and precise major element mass balance is consistent with derivation of average upper mantle peridotite from a partially molten chondritic Earth by subtraction of perovskite and addition of olivine. Majorite involvement is precluded unless some as yet unidentified components play a role. Perovskite subtraction during a primordial melting event is expected to occur by crystal fractionation at depth, while olivine addition is accomplished by a combination of buoyancy mechanisms: crystal flotation from a deep layer of melt buried by its own compressibility to the base of the solidifying upper mantle and subsequent solid state convection of this buoyant magnesian olivine upward. These processes are consistent with known density relations of crystals and liquid at very high pressure. Mass balance predicts that the residual magma body at depth after supplying olivine by flotation upward can be komatiitic. Distribution of originally C1 chrondritic bulk Earth material a few 100 m.y. after primordial differentiation is solid peridotite upper mantle, perovskite lower mantle, and a komatiitic liquid sandwich horizon.     

Low- and high-TiO2 flood basalts of southern Brazil: origin from picritic parentage and a common mantle source

The Serra Geral (Paraná) continental flood-basalt province of southern Brazil has two main basalt types: low-TiO₂ ( 1 wt.%) basalts occupy the southern portion, and high-TiO₂ (> 3 wt.%) basalts are largely in the northern part. Low-Ti basalts are less evolved (Mg# 60) and more radiogenic (e.g., ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr 0.708) than high-Ti basalts (Mg# 35; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr 0.705). This is consistent with a model that invokes variable melting of a single mantle source to produce picritic magmas that have relatively lower and higher incompatible element contents. Varying percentages of melting can be related to varying proximity to the early Tristan da Cunha hotspot. The Mg-rich magmas fractionated 60–75% olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase to yield low- or high-Ti flood basalts, assimilating more or less crust in the process. The extent of fractionation and assimilation depended on crustal “warmth” (also tied to location relative to hotspot): (1) above zones of 25% melting, warm crust relatively easily contaminated crystallizing picritic magma that originated by a high degree of melting (i.e., magma with lower incompatible element contents); additionally, high degrees of melting sustained replenishment of magma with low-Ti magma characteristics; (2) above 10% melting zones, cooler crust comparatively restricted assimilation during crystallization (of magma with higher incompatible element contents) and permitted magma evolution to high-Ti derivatives; lesser degrees of melting also limited replenishment magma and thereby allowed greater evolution of existing magma. This model refers all diagnostic geochemical and isotopic features of Serra Geral basalts to percentages of partial melting of an essentially homogeneous mantle material.     

Evolution of double diffusion convection in a felsic magma chamber

The onset of double diffusion convection (DDC) is modeled in a two-dimensional case in respect to magma chambers. The viscosity model for the melt takes into account the effects of temperature and concentration of the dissolved component (H₂O). The upper boundary of the convecting magma chamber is assumed to be anhydrous and at constant temperature, whereas the lower boundary is treated as being hydrous permeable with a temperature greater than that within the upper boundary. The case of positive compositional and thermal buoyancy of melt is studied assuming a H₂O diffusion coefficient small in comparison with thermal diffusivity. The DDC has been modeled using a system of equations solved by the finite difference method on a square grid. The convective pattern evolution has been studied for fixed boundary conditions as well as for cooling and degassing. Due to the higher viscosity in the upper zone, the upper boundary layer is thicker than the lower one. The variation of water concentration in this zone of the convective cell can be significant. In nature, the high gradient of water concentration can be responsible for the observed variations of water content in minerals crystallized from a granite melt (e.g., biotite). Because of a high Lewis number (= 100), temperature variations in the magma chamber decay much faster than the water concentration. In this case the intensive convection can continue at a constant temperature due to the non-zero water content in the chamber. In principle, the effect can be applied to the formation of magmatic bodies. If the cooling and degassing system reaches a uniform temperature distribution prior to the crystallization temperature, water content throughout the body may still remain variable.     

Petrogenesis of the Tanzawa plutonic complex, central Japan: Exposed felsic middle crust of the Izu–Bonin – Mariana arc

The Miocene Tanzawa plutonic complex, consisting mainly of tonalite intrusions, is exposed at the northern end of the Izu–Bonin – Mariana (IBM) arc system as a consequence of collision with the Honshu Arc. The Tanzawa plutonic rocks belong to the calc-alkaline series and exhibit a wide range of chemical variation, from 43 to 75 wt% SiO₂. They are characterized by relatively high Ba/Rb and Ce/Nb ratios, and low abundances of K₂O, LIL elements, and rare earth elements (REE). Their petrographic and geochemical features indicate derivation from an intermediate parental magma through crystal fractionation and accumulation processes, involving hornblende, plagioclase, and magnetite. The Tanzawa plutonic complex is interpreted to be the exposed middle crust of the IBM arc, which was uplifted during the collision. The mass balance calculations, combining data from melting experiments of hydrous basaltic compositions at lower-to-middle crustal levels, suggest that parental magma and ultramafic restite were generated by dehydration partial melting (∼ 45% melting) of amphibolite chemically similar to low-K tholeiitic basalt. Partial melting of hydrated mafic lower crust might play an important role in felsic middle-crust formation in the IBM arc.     

Lower crustal melting via magma underplating: Elemental and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic constraints from late Mesozoic intermediate–felsic volcanic rocks in the northeastern North China Block

Ar–Ar dating, major and trace element analyses, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope results of two groups of Lower Cretaceous (erupted at 126 and 119 Ma, respectively) intermediate–felsic lava from the northeastern North China Block (NCB) suggest their derivation from melting of mixtures between the heterogeneous lower crust and underplated basalts. Both groups exhibit high‐K calc‐alkaline to shoshonitic affinities, characterized by light rare earth element (LREE) and large ion lithophile element (LILE) enrichment and variable high field strength element (HFSE, e.g. Nb, Ta and Ti) depletion, and moderately radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd and Pb isotopic compositions. Compared with Group 2, Group 1 rocks have relatively higher K₂O and Al₂O₃/(CaO + K₂O + Na₂O) in molar ratio, higher HFSE concentrations and lower Nb/Ta ratios, and higher Sr–Nd–Pb isotope ratios. Group 1 rocks were derived from a mixture of an enriched mantle‐derived magma and a lower crust that has developed radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd and Pb isotopic compositions, whereas the Group 2 magmas were melts of another mixture between the same mantle‐derived component and another type of lower crust having even lower Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic ratios. Shift in source region from Group 1 to Group 2 coincided with a change in melting conditions: hydrous melting of both the underplated basalt and the lower crust produced the earlier high‐Nb and low‐Nb/Ta melts with little or no residual Ti‐rich phases; while the younger low‐Nb and high‐Nb/Ta magmas were melted under a water‐deficient system, in which Ti‐rich phases were retained in the source. Generation of the two groups of intermediate–felsic volcanic rocks was genetically linked with the contemporaneous magma underplating event as a result of lithospheric thinning in the eastern NCB.     

Creep of crystals: J.P. Poirier,Cambridge University Press, 1985, xii + 260 pp., £27.50, US$ 49.50, ISBN 0-521-26177-5

Fractional crystallization behaviour of a magma ocean extending to lower mantle depths was deduced from estimations of melting relations for the deep mantle and the density relationships between ultrabasic liquid and mantle minerals. The accretional growth of the Earth necessarily involves a molten zone (magma ocean) in the outer layer of the growing Earth. The fractionation by melting during accretion results in primary stratification composed of a molten ultrabasic upper mantle (magma ocean), a perovskite-rich lower mantle, and an iron core. A certain amount of Al₂O₃ and CaO was removed from the magma ocean and retained in the lower mantle due to eclogite fractionation in the early stage of accretion and the perovskite fractionation in the later stage of accretion. Models of the stratification of the upper mantle arising from fractional crystallization of the magma ocean and subsequent convective disturbance were deduced on the basis of estimations of melting relations for the deep mantle and the density relationships between the ultrabasic liquid and mantle minerals. The stratification of the mantle, which is consistent with geophysical constraints is as follows; the upper mantle is composed of two layers, the upper olivine-rich layer and the lower garnet-rich layer with a thickness around 200 km, and the lower mantle with a perovskite-rich composition. In this model, both the 400 and 650 km discontinuities are the chemical boundaries.     

Thermal evolution of the Earth: Secular changes and fluctuations of plate characteristics

The average secular cooling rate of the Earth can be deduced from compositional variations of mantle melts through time and from rheological conditions at the onset of sub-solidus convection at the end of the initial magma ocean phase. The constraint that this places on the characteristics of mantle convection in the past are investigated using the global heat balance equation and a simple parameterization for the heat loss of the Earth. All heat loss parameterization schemes depend on a closure equation for the maximum age of oceanic plates. We use a scheme that accounts for the present-day distribution of heat flux at Earth's surface and that does not depend on any assumption about the dynamics of convection with rigid plates, which remain poorly understood. We show that heat supply to the base of continents and transient continental thermal regimes cannot be ignored. We find that the maximum sea floor age has not changed by large amounts over the last 3 Ga. Calculations lead to a maximum temperature at an age of about 3 Ga and cannot be extrapolated further back in time. By construction, these calculations are based on the present-day tectonic regime characterized by the subduction of large oceanic plates and hence indicate that this regime did not prevail until an age of about 3 Ga. According to this interpretation, the onset of rapid continental growth occurred when the current plate regime became stable.     

Petrogenetic differences between the Middle-Late Jurassic Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing granites in the Nanling Range,South China: A case study of the Tongshanling and Weijia deposits in southern Hunan Province

The Middle-Late Jurassic Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing granites in the Nanling Range have distinctly different mineralogical and geochemical signatures. The Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing granites are dominated by metaluminous amphibole-bearing granodiorites, which have higher CaO/(Na2O+K2O) ratios, light/heavy rare earth element(LREE/HREE) ratios, and δEu values,lower Rb/Sr ratios, and weak Ba, Sr, P, and Ti depletions, exhibiting low degrees of fractionation. The W-bearing granites are highly differentiated and peraluminous, and they have lower CaO/(Na2O+K2O) ratios, LREE/HREE ratios, and δEu values,higher Rb/Sr ratios, and strong Ba, Sr, P, and Ti depletions. The Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing granites were formed predominantly between155.2 and 167.0 Ma with a peak value of 160.6 Ma, whereas the W-bearing granites were formed mainly from 151.1 to 161.8Ma with a peak value of 155.5 Ma. There is a time gap of about 5 Ma between the two different types of ore-bearing granites.Based on detailed geochronological and geochemical studies of both the Tongshanling Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and Weijia W-bearing granites in southern Hunan Province and combined with the other Middle-Late Jurassic Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing granites in the Nanling Range, a genetic model of the two different types of ore-bearing granites has been proposed. Asthenosphere upwelling and basaltic magma underplating were induced by the subduction of the palaeo-Pacific plate. The underplated basaltic magmas provided heat to cause a partial melting of the mafic amphibolitic basement in the lower crust, resulting in the formation of Cu-Pb-Zn mineralization related granodioritic magmas. With the development of basaltic magma underplating,the muscovite-rich metasedimentary basement in the upper-middle crust was partially melted to generate W-bearing granitic magmas. The compositional difference of granite sources accounted for the metallogenic specialization, and the non-simultaneous partial melting of one source followed by the other brought about a time gap of about 5 Ma between the Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing and W-bearing granites.     

Study of seismic tomography in Panxi paleorift area of southwestern China Structural features of crust and mantle and their evolution

Structural features of the typical continental paleorift in Panxi area are revealed by seismic tomography. (1) In the profile along the minor axis of Panxi paleorift, we found alternating high and low-velocity strips existing at different depths in the crust, presenting itself as a “sandwich” structure. The existence of these high and low-velocity anomaly strips is related to the basal lithology in the rift area. (2) An addition layer with velocity values of 7.1-7.5 km/s and 7.8 km/s exists from the base of lower crust to uppermost mantle and its thickness is about 20 km. Some study results indicate that the addition layer results from the invasion of mantle material. (3) A lens-shaped high-velocity body surrounded by relatively low-velocity material is observed at depths of 110-160 km between Huaping and Huidong in the axis of the paleorift. This is the first time to discover it in the upper mantle of the paleorift. Based on the results of geology, petrology and geochemistry, we infer that the formation of the addition layer and the lens-shaped high-velocity body in the upper mantle are related to the deep geodynamic process of generation, development and termination of the rift. On the one hand, the upwelling of asthenosphere mantle caused partial melting, and then the basaltic magma from the partial melted material further resulted in underplating and formed the crustal addition layer. On the other hand, the high-density content of mineral facies was increased in the residual melted mass of intensely depleted upper mantle, formed by basalt withdrawing. The solid-melt medium in the depleted upper mantle was mainly an accumulation of garnet and peridotite because the heating effect of lithosphere was relatively weakened in the later riftogenesis, so that a lens-shaped high-density and high-velocity zone was produced in the upper mantle. The results indicate that the energy and material exchange between asthenosphere and lithosphere and remarkable underplating would have an important effect on the material state and propagation of seismic wave in the lower crust, crust-mantle interface, asthenosphere and lithosphere. This process possibly is an important mechanism on the growth of continental crust and the evolution of deep mantle.     

The dynamical and thermal structure of deep mantle plumes

If the interpretation of the D″ layer at the base of the mantle as a thermal boundary layer, with a temperature increment in the order of 800 K, is correct, then the formation of deep-mantle plumes to vent material from it appears inevitable. We demonstrate quantitatively that the strong temperature dependence of viscosity guides the upward flow into long-lived chimneys that are ～ 20 km in diameter near the base of the mantle and decrease in width with progressive upward softening and partial melting of plume material. The speed of flow up the axis of the plume is correspondingly fast; 1.6 m y^?1 at the base and 4.8 m y^?1 at 670 km depth. Thermal diffusive spreading of a heated plume is compensated by a slow horizontal convergence of mantle material toward the chimney in response to the lower pressure there. This convergence, which contributes only a small increment to the flux of material up the plume, also serves to throttle the flow in the chimney. The global plume mass flux necessary to transport 1.6 × 10¹² W of core heat upward through the mantle is 1.8 × 10⁶ kg s^?1. At its base, plume material is probably still significantly below its solidus or eutectic temperature, but substantial partial melting is very likely as it rises. We speculate that a small fraction of this fluid component eventually emerges at the surface in “hot spots”, with the fate of the remainder being unknown. The behaviour and properties of D″ and of plumes are closely coupled. Not only are plumes a necessary consequence of a thermal boundary layer, but their existence is impossible without that layer.     

On the origin of an amphibole-rich vein in a peridotite inclusion from the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field,Nevada, U.S.A.

Late Cenozoic alkali basaltic lavas of the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field (LCVF), located in the center of the Great Basin of the Western U.S.A., contain a diverse suite of nodule samples of the lower crust and upper mantle. This paper documents a composite nodule from the Marcath flow in which an amphibole-bearing wehrlite (59% olivine, 30% clinopyroxene, 6% amphibole) is cut by a 6–9 mm wide vein of andesine-amphibolite (80% kaersutite, 15% andesine, 3% ilmenite). Aside from nodule-basalt reaction at the nodule exterior, there is little chemical variation either within or between individual grains of hydrous and anhydrous phases in the vein and host wehrlite. Furthermore, there is no systematic compositional zoning in the wehrlite relative to vein proximity. The whole-rock major and trace element composition of the vein is similar to a primitive (Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.692) basaltic liquid and has Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, Mn, Na, K, Zr, Y and Sr contents similar to basalts observed in the LCVF. In contrast to the Sr isotopic equilibrium displayed by vein feldspar and vein amphibole, Sr isotopic disequilibrium is exhibited between the vein (0.70318(4)), wehrlite (0.70322(4)), and host basalt (0.70357(5) n=3). However, the Sr isotopic ratios of older LCVF basalts (0.7030–0.7038; n=14) overlap those of the vein and wehrlite, and the magmatic activity leading to vein and wehrlite formation could be related to this older phase of LCVF volcanism. Petrographic and geochemical evidence is not consistent with a metasomatic origin for the vein and instead supports the view that the vein originated by the intrusion into a wehrlite mass and subsequent crystallization of a relatively primitive alkali basaltic magma in the lower crust or upper mantle. The wehrlite contains olivine of FO₇₁ and probably originated by crystal separation and accumulation from a relatively differentiated basaltic magma in the lower crust or upper mantle.     

On the interaction between convection and crystallization in cooling magma chambers

We investigate the interaction of thermal convection and crystallization in large aspect-ratio magma chambers. Because nucleation requires a finite amount of undercooling, crystallization is not instantaneous. For typical values of the rates of nucleation and crystal growth, the characteristic time-scale of crystallization is about 10³–10⁴ s. Roof convection is characterized by the quasi-periodic formation and instability of a cold boundary layer. Its characteristic time-scale depends on viscosity and ranges from about 10² s for basaltic magmas to about 10⁷ s for granitic magmas. Hence, depending on magma viscosity, convective instability occurs at different stages of crystallization. A single non-dimensional number is defined to characterize the different modes of interaction between convection and crystallization.Using realistic functions for the rates of nucleation and crystal growth, we integrate numerically the heat equation until the onset of convective instability. We determine both temperature and crystal content in the thermal boundary layer. Crystallization leads to a dramatic increase of viscosity which acts to stabilize part of the boundary layer against instability. We compute the effective temperature contrast driving thermal convection and show that it varies as a function of magma viscosity and hence composition.In magmas with viscosities higher than 10⁵ poise, the temperature contrast driving convection is very small, hence thermal convection is weak. In low-viscosity magmas, convective breakdown occurs before the completion of crystallization, and involves partially crystallized magma. The convective regime is thus characterized by descending crystal-bearing plumes, and bottom crystallization proceeds both by in-situ nucleation and deposition from the plumes. We suggest that this is the origin of intermittent layering, a form of rhythmic layering described in the Skaergaard and other complexes. We show that this regime occurs in basic magmas only at temperatures close to the liquidus and never occurs in viscous magmas. This may explain why intermittent layering is observed only in a few specific cases.     

SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating of the intrusives in the Tongling metallogenic cluster and its dynamic setting

This paper selected five typical Mesozoic intrusives from the Tongling metallogenic cluster (Xiaotongguanshan, Fenghuangshan, Xinqiao, Dongguashan, and Shatanjiao plutons), and made a systemic SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating for the five plutons, which produced an age range of 151.8±2.6- 142.8±1.8 Ma. This work put an accurate constraint on the formation age of the intrusives in the Tongling metallogenic cluster. These age data indicate that magmatic activity reached a peak during Late Jurassic. The intrusive sequence of magma is generally from quartz monzonite (porphyry) through monzonite to granodiorite to quartz monzodiorite to pyroxene monzodiorite to gabbro-diabase. The intrusives of different lithology differed in crystallization age, probably implying the intrusives in the Tongling area underwent an evolutional process of magma, which was closely related to geodynamical setting in the depths of the area. A dynamic model was presented for the origin of the igneous rocks in the study area as follows. The assembly between the Yangtze craton and the North China craton fini- shed at the end of T3, and then the stage of another compressional orogeny began in the Tongling area, i.e., Pacific dynamic system. Along with the subduction of the Izanagi plate underneath the Eurasian plate at J2-J3, NW-trending compression toward the East China continent was produced, and compres- sional deformation also took place, forming NE-trending fold and resulting in thickening of the crust in the Tongling area. High-density eclogite-facies rocks were produced in the low part of the crust, re- sulting in the delamination of mantle lithosphere and lower crust, and upwelling of materials in as- thenosphere. Decompression melting produced basaltic magma, and the materials in lower crust were heated by the underplating of the basaltic magma. Thus, melting of lower crust yielded granitic magma, which intruded along deep and large faults through various geological processes (J3-K1). The SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 151.8±2.6-142.8±1.8 Ma for intrusives in the Tongling area suggests that the de- lamination of lithosphere mantle and lower crust at least began at middle-late stage of Late Jurassic, resulting in sharp thinning of lithosphere and intense extension of middle-upper crust. Thus, a lot of decollements were produced between cover and cover, basement and cover, and middle and lower crust. This was structural layering or detachment of lithosphere in the Tongling area. Three concordant ages for old inherited cores of magmatic origin (747-823 Ma) indicated that there were obvious mag- matism in the Tongling area during Neoproterozoic, and a little more of the Neoproterozoic igneous source rocks participated in the formation of Mesozoic intrusives.