Wet or dry? The difficulty of identifying the presence of water during crustal melting

Partial melting of continental crust and evolution of granitic magmas are inseparably linked to the availability of H₂O. In the absence of a free aqueous fluid, melting takes place at relatively high temperatures by dehydration of hydrous minerals, whereas in its presence, melting temperatures are lowered, and melting need not involve hydrous minerals. With the exception of anatexis in water‐saturated environments where anhydrous peritectic minerals are absent, there is no reliable indicator that clearly identifies the presence of a free aqueous fluid during anatexis. Production of Ab‐rich magmas or changes in LILE ratios, such as an increase in Sr and decrease in Rb indicating increased involvement of plagioclase, are rough guidelines to the presence of aqueous fluids. Nevertheless, all indicators have caveats and cannot be unequivocally applied, allowing for the persistence of a bias in the literature towards dehydration melting. Investigation of mineral equilibria modelling of three metasedimentary protoliths of the Kangaroo Island migmatites in South Australia, shows that the main indicator for the presence of small volumes of excess water under upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies conditions (660–750°C) is the melt volume produced. Melt composition, modal content or chemical composition of peritectic minerals such as cordierite, sillimanite or garnet are relatively insensitive to the presence of free water. However, the mobility of melt during open system behaviour makes it difficult to determine the melt volume produced. We therefore argue that the presence of small volumes of excess water might be much more common than so far inferred, with large impact on the buffering of crustal temperatures and fertility, and therefore rheology of the continental crust.     

Lake Volume Monitoring from Space

Lakes are integrators of environmental change occurring at both the regional and global scale. They present a wide range of behavior on a variety of timescales (cyclic and secular) depending on their morphology and climate conditions. Lakes play a crucial role in retaining and stocking water, and because of the significant global environmental changes occurring at several anthropocentric levels, the necessity to monitor all morphodynamic characteristics [e.g., water level, surface (water contour) and volume] has increased substantially. Satellite altimetry and imagery are now widely used together to calculate lake and reservoir water storage changes worldwide. However, strategies and algorithms to calculate these characteristics are not straightforward, and specific approaches need to be developed. We present a review of some of these methodologies by using lakes over the Tibetan Plateau to illustrate some critical aspects and issues (technical and scientific) linked to the observation of climate change impact on surface waters from remote sensing data. Many authors have measured water variation using the limited remote sensing measurements available over short time periods, even though the time series are probably too short to directly link these results with climate change. Indeed, there are many processes and factors, like the influence of lake morphology, that are beyond observation and are still uncertain. The time response for lakes to reach a new state of equilibrium is a key aspect that is often neglected in current literature. Observations over a long period of time, including maintaining a constellation of comprehensive and complementary satellite missions with service continuity over decades, are therefore necessary especially when the ground gauge network is too limited. In addition, the design of future satellite missions with new instrumental concepts (e.g., SAR, SARin, Ka band altimetry, Ka interferometry) will also be suitable for complete monitoring of continental waters.