Earth Mat Flashcards - Ch 8
Solidify to produce igneous rocks in Earth’s crust are initially formed by a process called ___, which refers to the partial melting of a source rock.
anatexis
Anatexis produces:
A liquid melt fraction enriched in lower temperature constituents.
A residual rock component enriched in higher temperature, refractory elements.
In the simplest approach, rock melting within Earth’s interior is modeled as two idealized end-member processes:
equilibrium melting and disequilibrium (fractional) melting.
occurs in a closed system where chemicals are neither added nor removed from the plutonic environment.
requires that the melt remains in contact with the residual rock throughout the melting process.
Equilibrium melting
Incomplete chemical reactions may be due to
large crystal size, high magma viscosity, and/or low ion migration rates.
The net result of inequilibrium melting is the generation of
zoned crystals
Cause of Fractional (disequilibrium)melting
melts are separated from the refractory crystals, liquids and crystals do not remain in equilibrium
what happens in fractional melting of rocks containing plagioclase and olivine
The early melts are highly enriched in low melting temperature constituents, such as sodium plagioclase and iron olivine.
This leaves behind a more refractory residual solid enriched in calcium plagioclase and magnesium olivine.
Pressure is related to rock depth, whereby 10 km depth corresponds approximately to
3.3 kbars.
is the primary means by which basaltic magmas are generated at ocean spreading ridges and continental rifts.
Decompression melting of mantle peridotite
Volatiles act as a ____, which is an agent that reduces the melting temperature of a substance.
flux
As the degree of partial melting increases, the degree of enrichment of incompatible elements ________.
decreases
Light rare earth elements (LREE) are generally less incompatible with solid minerals than heavy rare earth elements (HREE).
T or F
F; more incompatible
processes involve changes in bulk magma chemistry after its initial generation.
Diversification
includes all processes where the original melt evolves into one or more melts with a different composition, without material being exchanged with an external source.
Closed-system diversification
Father of Modern petrology
Norman Bowen
The subject of study in Bowens reseach
Palisades Sill
When discontinuous and continuous reactions in magmas do not reach completion under equilibrium, chemical variations are preserved in crystals, leading to the formation of
zoned crystals and reaction rims.
show a systematic chemical variation from the core to the edge, recording incomplete continuous reactions between the crystal and surrounding melt.
Zoned crystals
occur when a new mineral forms around the edges of a crystal with a partially resorbed core.
Reaction rims
Crystallization along the walls of the magma chamber in which crystals preferentially form and adhere to the edges results in
marginal accretion.
Heat rises so that the upper margin of the magma chamber may cool relatively quickly.
As a result, __________ results from early crystallization of minerals along the ceiling or roof due to preferential heat loss.
roof accretion
___________develops as the magma chamber walls release heat to the relatively cold country rock, generating crystals that adhere to the side margins of the magma chamber.
Sidewall accretion
occurs as crystals form along the base of the magma chamber.
Floor accretion
Because they lose heat rapidly to the wall rocks, pluton margins adjacent to cool country rock commonly display finer grained ____________ compared to the coarser grained crystals of the pluton interior.
chilled margins
includes fractionation processes that occur when crystals develop with significantly different densities than the surrounding magma.
Gravitational separation
occurs when higher density, ferromagnesian crystals settle to the base of a magma chamber relative to the lower density liquid magma.
Crystal settling
can occur if early formed crystals, such as plagioclase, are less dense than the magma.
As a result, crystals may float towards the roof of a magma chamber, effectively segregating them from the remaining melt.
Crystal flotation
segregation occurs whereby liquids and crystals are segregated due to factors such as velocity, density, or temperature.
Convective flow
Cooling can be accompanied by deformation whereby crystals are compacted and rotated while liquids experience expulsion.
This variation on crystal–liquid fractionation involves a set of processes under the umbrella of
filter pressing.
In _________, one parent magma fractionates to produce two or more distinctly different daughter magmas with different compositions.
liquid fractionation
Liquid fractionation processes include
differential diffusion and liquid immiscibility.
involves the preferential diffusion of select ions within the magma in response to compositional, thermal, or density gradients as well as water content.
Differential diffusion
also called liquid–liquid fractionation, occurs when magma separates into two or more distinct immiscible liquid phases.
Liquid immiscibility,
How does carbonitite form
CO₂ exsolves as a separate fluid phase from alkalic magmas, generating a carbonate-rich fluid which crystallizes as a carbonatite.