Intracrystalline melt migration in deformed olivine revealed by trace element compositions and polyphase solid inclusions

Melt transport mechanisms have an important impact on the chemical composition of the percolated host rock and the migrating melts. Melt migration is usually assumed to occur at grain boundaries. However, microstructural studies revealed the occurrence of polyphase inclusions along dislocations, subgrain boundaries and microcracks in single mineral grains. The inclusions are interpreted as crystallized melt pockets suggesting that melts can migrate within deformed crystals. Intracrystalline melt migration and diffusive re-equilibration can lead to significant mineral trace element enrichments when associated with dissolution–precipitation reactions. In this contribution, we study a body of replacive troctolites associated with the Erro-Tobbio ophiolitic mantle peridotites (Ligurian Alps, Italy). The replacive formation of the olivine-rich troctolite involved extensive impregnation of a dunitic matrix, i.e. partial dissolution of olivine and concomitant crystallization of interstitial phases. The olivine matrix is characterized by two distinct olivine textures: (i) coarse deformed olivine, representing relicts of the pre-existing mantle dunite matrix (olivine1), and (ii) fine-grained undeformed olivine, a product of the melt–rock interaction process (olivine2). Previous studies documented a decoupling between olivine texture and trace element composition, namely enriched trace element compositions in olivine1 rather than in olivine2, as would be expected from the dissolution–precipitation process. Notably, the trace element enrichments in deformed olivines are correlated with the occurrence of elongated 10 µm size polyphase inclusions (clinopyroxene, Ti-pargasite, chromite) preferentially oriented along olivine crystallographic axes. These inclusions show irregular contacts and have no crystallographic preferred orientation with the host olivine, and the phases composing the inclusions show similar chemical compositions to the vermicular phases formed at the grain boundaries during late-stage reactive crystallization of the troctolite. This suggests that the investigated inclusions did not form as exsolutions of the host olivine but rather by input of metasomatic fluids percolating through the deformed olivine grains during closure of the magmatic system. We infer that strongly fractionated volatile-rich melts were incorporated in oriented microfractures within olivine1 and led to the crystallization of the polyphase inclusions. The presence of intracrystalline melt greatly enhanced diffusive re-equilibration between the evolved melt and the percolated olivine1, in turn acquiring the enriched character expected in neoformed olivine crystals. Intracrystalline melt percolation can have strong geochemical implications and can lead to efficient re-equilibration of percolated minerals and rocks.

Melting and dynamic pressure: coupling of reactions, heat transfer and deformation

<p>Melting is a major process of plate tectonics, affecting divergent and convergent plate boundaries. Melting of rock is also a typical example of a coupled geological process, in which the associated transformation affects the heat transfer via the latent heat of fusion and the rock deformation via the volume change. However, petrological studies on melting usually focus on chemical aspects, such as differentiation of involved components, thermal studies usually focus only on the impact of latent heat on heat transfer, such as done in the classical Stefan problem of solidification. Similarly, studies focusing on lithosphere and mantle deformation usually only consider the impact on the effective viscosity, such as weakening due to partial melting, or the impact on buoyancy due to density changes. Many studies do, therefore, not consider coupling of melting, heat transfer and rock deformation. Indeed, a common assumption is that rock pressure, or mean stress, remains lithostatic during melting. While this assumption is attractive due to its simplicity, it is against the common knowledge derived from physical experiments and the well-established mechanical theories. Furthermore, theoretical models of melt migration would not work if pressure is everywhere lithostatic, or hydrostatic, because melt migration is driven by local deviations from the static stress state.</p><p>Here, we present simple mathematical models based on the fundamental laws of physics and thermodynamics (e.g. conservation of mass, momentum and energy) to study the fundamental coupling of melting, heat transfer and rock deformation, and to quantify dynamic pressure variations due to melting. We show both analytical and numerical solutions for these models. We discuss applications of these solutions to experiments and geological observations and estimate magnitudes of dynamic pressure resulting from melting under natural conditions.</p>

Felsic melt migration via porous flow – a numerical modeling approach

<p>Melting of the continental crust and subsequent melt transport has been most thoroughly described in the case of metasedimentary rocks. In these rocks segregation and migration of melt occur either through an interconnected network of veins and melt-rich layers (leucosome) or in form of diapirs. For these rocks, porous flow of melt at grain scale is mostly regarded only as a transient stage of separation of melt from the solid rock.</p><p>An entirely different style of melting and melt transport occurs in the case of felsic metaigneous rocks. We use the example from the Bohemian Massif, the eastern European Variscan belt, where metaigneous migmatites were studied in large detail. Here, melt did not segregate from the solid rock but migrated pervasively along most of the grain boundaries and equilibrated with the host rock. This equilibration resulted in formation of a continuous sequence of texturally, geochemically and compositionally different migmatites.</p><p>The question arises, what are the conditions and driving forces for this unusual behavior. We attempt to address this question by means of numerical modeling of two-phase flow (i.e. flow of porous solid matrix and melt), using the open-source finite-element ASPECT code (aspect.geodynamics.org). Most previous numerical studies of this process were either purely generic or focused on the melting of the mantle. In order to study this process in crustal conditions, we set up a 2D crustal-scale thermo-mechanical model that includes melting and freezing. We investigate the role of material properties (viscosity, solidus and liquidus temperatures, solid matrix permeability, melt composition) and thermal and velocity boundary conditions, as well as the effect of grid resolution. The results are discussed in terms of realistic parameter values and possible styles of melt migration and deformation of the matrix.</p>

Melt migration by reactive porosity waves

<p>The formation of alkaline magmas observed worldwide requires that low degree-melts, potentially formed in the asthenosphere, were able to cross the overlying lithosphere. Fracturing in the upper, brittle part of the lithosphere may help to extract this melt to the surface. However, the mechanism of extraction in the lower, ductile part of the lithosphere is still contentious. Metasomatic enrichment of the lithospheric mantle demonstrates that such low-degree melts interact with the lithosphere, but the physical aspect of this process remains unclear.</p><p>Here, we aim to better understand, first, the percolation of magma in a porous viscous medium at pressure (P) and temperature (T) conditions relevant for the base of the lithosphere, and second, the impact of chemical differentiation on melt migration. We investigate theoretically the process of melt migration employing the fundamental laws of physics and thermodynamics. We simulate melt percolation numerically with a one-dimensional (1-D) Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) model of porosity waves coupled with thermodynamic results obtained from numerical Gibbs energy minimisation calculations. We perform THMC modelling and Gibbs energy minimisations with self-developed numerical algorithms using MATLAB and linear programming routines. We employ a simple ternary system of Forsterite/Fayalite/Enstatite for the solid and melt. Model variables, such as solid and melt densities or mass concentrations of MgO and SiO in solid and melt, are a function of pressure (P), temperature (T) and total silica concentration of the system (X). These variables are pre-computed with Gibbs energy minimisation and implemented in the THMC porosity wave transport code via parameterized equations, determining the T-P-X dependence of the model variables.</p><p>First results show that the total silica concentration and the temperature gradient are important parameters to consider in melt migration by reactive porosity waves. We discuss results of a systematic series of 1-D simulations and we present preliminary results form a 2-D reactive porosity wave model.</p>