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Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Transcrystalline melt migration and Earth's mantle
Pierre Schiano1, Ariel Provost, Roberto Clocchiatti
1Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Observatoire de Physique du Globe, Université Blaise Pascal et CNRS, 5 rue Kessler, 63038 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France. schiano@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|November 11, 2006
Summary
Magma inclusions migrate through olivine crystals under thermal gradients, driven by crystal-melt interactions. This explains melt segregation and questions deep fluid phases in Earth's mantle.
Area of Science:
- Geochemistry
- Geophysics
- Mineral Physics
Background:
- Plate tectonics and volcanism are driven by magma and gas dynamics.
- Understanding melt and gas behavior within the Earth's mantle is crucial for volcanism and tectonics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the migration mechanisms of melt inclusions within olivine crystals under thermal gradients.
- To understand the behavior of exsolved gas bubbles during melt migration.
- To apply experimental findings to large-scale geological processes and re-evaluate deep fluid phase existence.
Main Methods:
- Laboratory experiments simulating thermal gradients on melt inclusions within olivine crystals.
- Observation of melt and gas bubble movement and interaction.
- Kinetic analysis of crystal-melt interface mechanisms.
- Scaling experimental results to Earth's mantle conditions.
Main Results:
- Melt inclusions migrate through olivine crystals, controlled by crystal-melt interface kinetics.
- Exsolved gas bubbles become immobile and separate from the migrating melt.
- Experimental results explain grain-scale segregation of primitive melts in the mantle.
- CO2-rich fluid inclusions are reinterpreted as gas escaped from melt.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a mechanism for melt segregation at the grain scale within the mantle.
- The findings challenge the concept of a pervasive, deeply percolating free fluid phase.
- Melt migration experiments offer insights into crystal growth kinetics under geologically relevant conditions.
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