Last time

We discussed mantle composition and

found some differences in magmas may
depend on the depth of the source.

 Your text, p. 185, suggests the

following reactions for transitions in
the upper mantle:
 From Plagioclase to Spinel Peridotite
CaAl2Si2O8 +Mg2SiO4 =2 MgSiO3 +CaMgSi2O6+MgAl2O4
An + Fo = 2 En + Di + Spinel
BTW not all of the Olivine is consumed, and we saw earlier
that Mg2SiO4 has a Spinel STRUCTURE at depth.

 From Spinel to Garnet Peridotites

MgSiO3 + MgAl2O4 = Mg2SiO4 +Mg3Al2Si3O12
En + Spinel = Fo + Garnet
Ch 11. Magmatic Differentiation
 In Chapter 10 we created a primary magma
by partial melting of the mantle
• It is a basalt
 Can we get the diversity of igneous rocks that
we find at the surface from this parent?

 Magmatic Differentiation: any process by

which a magma is able to diversify and
produce a magma or rock of different
composition
 Magmatic Differentiation
 Two essential processes
1. Creates a compositional difference in one or
more phases
2. Preserves the chemical difference by
segregating (or fractionating) the chemically
distinct portions
 Segregation

Separation of a partially melted liquid from

the solid residue
 Incongruent melting
 Many minerals do not melt uniformly. Instead they
decompose as they melt, becoming melt plus a new solid
mineral species. One example is solid Forsterite
(Mg2SiO4), which decomposes to solid Enstatite (MgSiO3)
plus liquid silica (SiO2) in the melt.

 We say Forsterite is chemically incompatible with quartz,

because the reaction ensures Enstatite forms from Olivine
and silica. Forsterite reacts with Quartz as follows:
Forsterite (Mg2SiO4) (s) + Quartz (SiO2) (l) = 2 Enstatite (MgSiO3) (s)
Incongruent Solidification of a Mantle partial melt:
considering only components Mg++ and (SiO4)-4

• We start with a mantle

melt between Forsterite
Olivine Mg2SiO4 and
Enstatite MgSiO3 in
composition.

• At a, the melt begins

cooling.

Diagram courtesy of Steve Dutch

Incongruent Solidification of a Mantle partial melt:
considering just components Mg++ and (SiO4)-4

•At T= b, the melt has

reached the liquidus
temperature and solid
Forsterite begins to form
Incongruent Solidification of a Mantle partial melt:
considering just components Mg++ and (SiO4)-4

•At c, a bit more than half

the melt has solidified as
Forsterite. The melt has
passed the composition of
Enstatite, but is still too
hot for it to crystallize out.
Incongruent Solidification of a Mantle partial melt: considering jus
components Mg++ and (SiO4)-4

•At d, we have reached the

freezing/melting point of
Enstatite. We are on the
boundaries of fields
containing both Forsterite
and Enstatite. Therefore
we must have both solid
phases present, and
Enstatite begins to form.
When Enstatite cools,
some Enstatite forms
directly from the melt, but
some forms at the expense
of Forsterite.
Incongruent Solidification of a Mantle partial melt: considering jus
components Mg++ and (SiO4)-4

•Once solid Enstatite

begins to form at d, the
Temperature remains
constant for the phase
change, and the solidus
moves horizontally as the
proportion of En increases
in the En + Fo mush.
•For example at e,
Enstatite is forming and
the solid composition
moves toward Enstatite.
When it reaches the
original system
composition, the system is
completely solidified.
 Separation of a partially melted liquid
from the solid residue requires a critical
melt %

 Sufficient melt must be produced for it

to
– Form a continuous, interconnected film
– Have enough interior volume that not all of
it is adsorbed to the crystal surfaces
The ability to form an interconnected film is
dependent upon the dihedral angle () a
property of the melt: easier with smaller
angle
Liquid separation motivated by density effects
(more buoyant liquid rises and escapes)
Filter pressing,
or compaction,
in which a
crystal mush is
squeezed like a
sponge by
weight of
crystals above.
 Crystal Fractionation
 Dominant mechanism by which most
magmas, once formed, differentiate?

Gravity settling
– The differential motion of crystals and
liquid under the influence of gravity due to
their differences in density
 Gravity settling
 Cool point a  olivine layer at base of pluton if first olivine sinks

 Next get ol+cpx layer

Figure 7-2. After Bowen
(1915), A. J. Sci., and
 finally get ol+cpx+plag Morse (1994), Basalts
and Phase Diagrams.
Krieger Publishers.

Cumulate texture:
Mutually touching
phenocrysts with
interstitial crystallized
residual melt
 Stoke’s Law
2gr 2 (r s - r l )
V=
9h
V = the settling velocity (cm/sec)
g = the acceleration due to gravity (980
cm/sec2)
r = the radius of a spherical particle (cm)
rs = the density of the solid spherical particle
(g/cm3)
rl = the density of the liquid (g/cm3)
h = the viscosity of the liquid (1 c/cm sec = 1
poise)
Olivine in basalt
– Olivine (rs = 3.3 g/cm3, r = 0.1 cm)
– Basaltic liquid (rl = 2.65 g/cm3, h = 1000
poise)
– Use Stoke’s Law:
– V = 2·980·0.12 (3.3-2.65)/9·1000 = 0.0013
cm/sec
Rhyolitic melt
 h = 107 poise and rl = 2.3 g/cm3
– hornblende crystal (rs = 3.2 g/cm3, r = 0.1 cm)
 V = 2 x 10-7 cm/sec, or 6 cm/year
– feldspars (rl = 2.7 g/cm3)
 V = 2 cm/year
 = 200 m in the 104 years that a stock might
cool
 If 0.5 cm in radius (1 cm diameter) settle at
0.65 meters/year, or 6.5 km in 104 year
cooling of stock
Stokes’ Law is overly simplified
1. Crystals are not spherical
2. Only basaltic magmas very near their
liquidus temperatures behave as
Newtonian fluids
 liquid
bulk
High-P (upper tie-line) Hi-P
has liq > ol
Low-P

Low-P (lower tie-line) c a b

f e d all solids
has ol > liquid
all solids
Ol Pyx

Expansion of olivine field at low pressure causes

an increase in the quantity of crystallized olivine
Thus, the amount of olivine that crystallizes with a
rising basaltic magma will be greater that the
amount that forms during isobaric crystallization
See Lever Principle, Figs. 6-8 and 6-9 For example, the lower tie line has
amount liquid = ef ~ 1/2 there is about twice as much solid Olivine as melt
amount solid de
Two other mechanisms that facilitate the
separation of crystals and liquid
1. Flow segregation

Idea: The motion of the magma past the

stationary walls of the country rock creates
shear in the viscous liquid
Magma must flow around phenocrysts,
thereby exerting pressure on them at
constrictions where phenocrysts are near one
another or the contact
 grain dispersive pressure, forcing the
grains apart and away from the contact

This is probably a relatively minor effect

Figure 11-4 Drever and Johnston (1958). Royal Soc.

Edinburgh Trans., 63, 459-499.
 Volatile Transport
2. As a volatile-bearing
(but undersaturated)
magma rises and
pressure is reduced,
the magma may
eventually become
saturated in the
vapor, and a free
vapor phase will be
released

Figure 7-22. From Burnham and Davis (1974). A J Sci.,

274, 902-940.
3. Late-stage Fractional Crystallization
 Fractional crystallization enriches
late melt in non-rock-forming (non-
lithophile) elements
 Particularly enriched with resurgent
boiling (melt already evolved when
vapor phase released)
 Get a silicate-saturated vapor + a
vapor-saturated late derivative
silicate liquid
8 cm tourmaline crystals
from pegmatite

5 mm gold from a
hydrothermal deposit
 Liquid Immiscibility
 Liquid immiscibility in the Fo-En-SiO2 system

Figure 6-12. Isobaric T-X phase

diagram of the system Fo-Silica at 0.1
MPa. After Bowen and Anderson (1914)
and Grieg (1927). Amer. J. Sci.
Walker and DeLong (1982) subjected two
basalts to thermal gradients of nearly
50oC/mm!
Found that:
 Samples reached a
steady state in a few
days
 Heavier elements 
cooler end and the
lighter  hot end
 The chemical
concentration is similar
to that expected from
fractional Si at top, Fe Mg Ti Ca on bottom
crystallization Figure 7-4. After Walker,
D. C. and S. E. DeLong
(1982). Contrib. Mineral.
Petrol., 79, 231-240.
 Magma Mixing
Comingled basalt-Rhyolite
Mt. McLoughlin, Oregon

Figure 11-8 From Winter (2001) An

Introduction to Igneous and
Metamorphic Petrology. Prentice Hall

Basalt pillows
accumulating at the bottom
of a granitic magma
chamber, Vinalhaven
Island, Maine
 Assimilation
 Incorporation of wall rocks
(diffusion, xenoliths)
 Assimilation by melting is limited by
the heat available in the magma
 Xenolith melts if the melting point
of the country rock is (much) less
than the temperature of the
magma
 Detecting and assessing assimilation
Isotopes are generally the best
– Continental crust becomes progressively
enriched in 87Sr/86Sr and depleted in
143Nd/144Nd

• Some trace elements are much more abundant in

the continental crust than in mantle-derived
magmas.
• The assimilation of a modest amount of crustal
material rich in that element may have a
considerable effect on a magma that initially
contained very little of it.
•During the fractional crystallization of magma, and magma generation by the partial melting of the
Earth's mantle and crust, elements that have difficulty in entering cation sites of the minerals are
concentrated in the melt phase of magma (liquid phase). An incompatible element is an element that
is unsuitable in size and/or charge to the cation sites of the minerals
Detecting and Assessing Assimilation
 Detecting and assessing assimilation

9-22 238U  234U  206Pb (l = 1.5512 x 10-10 a-1)

9-23 235U  207Pb (l = 9.8485 x 10-10 a-1)
9-24 232Th  208Pb (l = 4.9475 x 10-11 a-1)

 U-Th-Pb system as an indicator of

continental contamination is particularly
useful
 All incompatibles similar to Zr+4, so
they concentrate strongly into the
continental crust because they are not
removed during early fractionation.
 Mixed Processes
 May be more than coincidence: two
processes may operate in
conjunction.
 E.g. fractional crystallization +
recharge of more primitive magma
 As we shall see next time.