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The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and

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DOI: 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002

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LITHOS-02629; No of Pages 17
Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Lithos
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lithos

The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies

and differences
D. Perugini ⁎, G. Poli
Department of Earth sciences, University of Perugia, Piazza Università 06100, Perugia, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Magma mixing processes have been widely recognized in both the plutonic and volcanic environments, but
Received 1 November 2011 the quality and quantity of information that can be extracted from the two environments are substantially
Accepted 2 February 2012 different. Understanding the advantages and limits associated with the study of plutonic and volcanic
Available online xxxx
rocks is essential to establish precise methodological approaches to build the most complete conceptual
model by merging information from these two complementary igneous environments.
Keywords:
Magma mixing
In this work we review magmatic interaction processes in the plutonic and volcanic environments by considering
Plutonic and volcanic rocks several aspects of these geological phenomena. In particular, we first briefly report on the structural and
Chaotic dynamics geochemical evidence for magma mixing in both plutonic and volcanic rocks, with the aim to provide a general
Numerical modeling picture of this natural phenomenon. Successively, we discuss some recent results about magma mixing achieved
Experiments using the concepts from Chaos Theory and discuss their potential impact on magma differentiation. Finally, we
attempt to build a general picture of this igneous process by merging present-day information from both the
plutonic and volcanic environments. It emerges from the general picture that the time spent by the magmatic
system in the molten or partially molten state is the crucial factor for the preservation of the fingerprints of
magma mixing in the two environments. We propose a conceptual model that may be useful to understand
what kind of information we can obtain from volcanic and plutonic rocks and, ultimately, to maximize our
knowledge about magma mixing.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The development of scientific hypotheses is constituted by different
evolutionary stages. The first stage is characterized by the observation
of a phenomenon that is considered worth noting, because it goes
beyond the standard idea that a scientific community has developed
about a natural system. The second stage, that necessarily requires
recognition from the scientific community, is based on measurements
and modeling to quantify, reproduce, and understand the new phenom-
enon. Therefore, it can be said that the infancy of a hypothesis is essen-
tially characterized by observation, whereas its maturity is represented
by quantification. The infancy and maturity stages are connected by an
intermediate stage in which it is realized that observation is not enough
to fully understand the phenomenon and, thus, it is necessary to shift to
more evolved stages.
In 1851, the chemist Robert Bunsen (Bunsen, 1851) published a
pioneering work suggesting that mixing of two magmas might ex-
plain most of the compositional variability observed in igneous
rocks. Several geologists strongly criticized this work and the magma
mixing idea was rejected and remained in disrepute for almost one
⁎ Corresponding author at. Tel.: + 39 075 5852610; fax: + 39 075 5852603.
E-mail address: diegop@unipg.it (D. Perugini).
century (see e.g. Wilcox, 1999 for a historical overview). The accep-
tance of fractional crystallization as the new paradigm for explaining
magma differentiation (Bowen, 1915) strongly contributed to bury
the magma mixing idea in the graveyard of forgotten hypotheses.
However, around the 1950s the magma mixing concept resuscitated
energetically as the result of the indisputable evidence documented
in the rocks (e.g. Bailey and McCallien, 1956, Wager and Bailey,
1953). After an infancy of about 20–25 years, in which a number of ob-
servations have been recorded (e.g. Walker and Skelhorn, 1966,
Yoder, 1973), this process passed through an intermediate stage (e.g.
Huppert and Sparks, 1980, Kouchi and Sunagawa, 1985, Oldenburg
et al., 1989, Sparks and Marshall, 1986, Turner and Campbell, 1986,
Vernon et al., 1988) that only recently evolved toward maturity (e.g.
Bergantz, 2000, Jellinek et al., 1999, Petrelli et al., 2011). Support to
these considerations is given in Fig. 1, in which are reported the num-
ber of articles published in the literature about magmatic interaction
processes from 1950 to 2010. Data used to build the graph were col-
lected from the database GeoRef during October 2011 (http://www.
georef.org). In particular, for each five-year period, the expressions
“magma mixing”, “magma mixing modeling/experiments/simula-
tions” have been chosen to query the database. The graph shows
that, starting from 1980s the number of papers on magma mixing in-
creases exponentially reaching the value of approximately 900 in
2005–2010. On the contrary, the number of papers focused on

0024-4937/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
2 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Fig. 1. Graph showing the number of articles published on magma mixing processes
from 1950 to 2010. For each five-year period, the expressions “magma mixing”,
“magma mixing modeling/experiments/simulations” have been used to query the
database. Source data: GeoRef, October 2011 (http://www.georef.org).
modeling, experiments or simulations does not grow at the same rate: it
remains close to zero up to the beginning of 1990s and, then, it slowly
increases indicating that the maturity stage may take a long time to
be fully developed. Nevertheless, reaching such a maturity stage is
very likely to place magma mixing in the first position among all differ-
entiation processes acting to produce compositional diversity in igne-
ous rocks.
A plethora of works suggested that the mixing of magmas can play
a very important role in both modulating the compositional variability
in igneous rocks (e.g. Blundy and Sparks, 1992, De Campos et al., 2004,
Wiebe, 1994) and triggering of highly explosive volcanic eruptions
(e.g. Leonard et al., 2002, Murphy et al., 1998, Sparks et al., 1977).
However, despite the indisputable importance of magma mixing in
modern igneous petrology and volcanology, and the progresses in
experimental and numerical modeling strategies (e.g. Bindeman and
Perchuk, 1993, De Campos et al., 2011, Perugini et al., 2003a,
Zimanowski et al., 2004), we are still far away from understanding
even the basic physico-chemical mechanisms associated with this
natural phenomenon and their potential impact upon our under-
standing of igneous systems.
Mixing processes have been widely recognized in both the plutonic
and volcanic environments, but the quality and quantity of information
that can be extracted from the two environments are substantially
different. Understanding the advantages and limits associated with
the study of plutonic and volcanic rocks is essential to establish precise
methodological approaches to build the most complete conceptual
model by merging information from these two complementary igneous
environments.
In this paper, we review magmatic interaction processes in the
plutonic and volcanic environments by considering several aspects
of these geological phenomena. In particular, we first briefly report
on the structural and geochemical evidence for magma mixing in
both plutonic and volcanic rocks, with the aim to provide a general
picture of this natural phenomenon. Successively we discuss some
recent results about magma mixing achieved using the concepts
from Chaos Theory and discuss their potential impact on magma
differentiation. Finally, we attempt to build a general picture of this
Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
igneous process by merging present-day information from both the
plutonic and volcanic environments. The aim is to provide a conceptual
model that may be useful to understand what kind of information we
can obtain from these two igneous environments and, ultimately, to
maximize the knowledge about magma mixing processes.
2. What is magma mixing?
It has become an accepted practice to apply the term magma
mingling to indicate the process of acting to disperse physically (no
chemical exchanges are involved) one or more magmas within a host
magma, whereas the term magma mixing indicates that the mingling
process is also accompanied by chemical exchanges (e.g. Flinders and
Clemens, 1996). Unfortunately, such a jargon is not consistently used
in the literature and this produced some misunderstanding. Although
it is not always easy to clearly discriminate between the two processes,
we believe that mingling is a quite rare process in nature. In fact, as
mingling proceeds, the contact area between magmas strongly
increases leading to an increasing probability for chemical exchanges
to occur. Therefore, unless it can be clearly demonstrated that no chem-
ical exchanges occurred between magmas, the term mixing should be
preferred. In the rest of this work we will rely upon this consideration
and use the word mixing.
It has been widely documented that magmas can mix efficiently
only when their rheology is similar (e.g. Bateman, 1995, Poli et al.,
1996, Sparks and Marshall, 1986). Such physical conditions can
occur when: (a) magmas have a similar rheology from the beginning
of the interaction process, and (b) different magmas achieve a similar
rheology in response to evolutionary processes (e.g. Poli et al., 1996,
Sparks and Marshall, 1986). Since here we are interested in discussing
the development of the mixing process, in the rest of this work we
assume that magmas are in rheological conditions allowing the mixing
process to happen, without incurring potential problems related to
rheological barriers. The discussion about the influence of rheological
properties on promoting or inhibiting the mixing process can be
found in the works cited above.
The mixing of magmas is a process that can virtually occur at any
stage in the life span of a magmatic system and it does not necessarily
require the presence of end-members generated from different
sources (e.g. mantle- and crust-derived melts; Fig. 2a). In fact, mixing
processes can take place whenever chemical gradients are present in
the magmatic system. This implies that mixing processes may affect
petrological processes such as fractional crystallization, assimilation
and partial melting, which inevitably cause both chemical and
temperature gradients. Fractional crystallization tends to occur
along the cooler walls of magma chambers or conduits and depletes
the magma in those elements, which are incorporated into the crystals
inducing compositional gradients between the core and the more
external portions of the magmatic mass (Fig. 2b). A further scenario
is the assimilation of country rocks, in which volumes of magma
close to the walls would attain a different chemical composition
than the core region (Fig. 2c), generating compositional gradients
and, potentially, being affected by mixing. Regarding partial melting,
if there is a temperature gradient in a partially molten zone, composi-
tional gradients would be also produced (Fig. 2d). Melts formed at
small melt fractions are more enriched, for instance, in Rare Earth
Elements (REE) and other incompatible elements than those formed
at larger melt fractions. Such compositional gradients are the pre-
requisite for triggering mixing processes. In addition, in any petrologic
configuration in which melts with different compositions can be
generated it is also very likely that magmas are transported to different
crustal levels. During this process the different melts can crosscut their
mutual trajectories en-route to the surface and undergo magma mixing
(Fig. 2e). It is also possible that all the above processes may act together,
strongly amplifying the effect of mixing and inducing a considerable
inhomogeneity in magmatic systems.
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 3

Replenishment of magma
chambers by mafic magma
a
Felsic magma

Migration in fracture/channel Mafic magma

networks Fractional crystallization
0.1-10 m Fracture network e Most evolved liquid
b
0.1-10 km

Least
evolved
liquid
Magma
mixing
Melt-2 Melt-1 0.1-10 km

d 0.1-10 mm 0.1-10 km
c
Melt-1
Melt-1
Thermal gradient

Melt-2

Melt-2 ation
Contamin

Partial melting (source region) Assimilation

Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of some processes that can potentially generate compositional gradients in igneous systems and, thus, induce the development of mixing processes
among different melts. Modified from De Campos et al., 2011).

Therefore, although the most striking evidence of magma mixing
in the rocks is the presence of at least two different magmas,
commonly with different colors (typically resulting from a different
mineralogy and composition), it is clear that the concept of magma
mixing must be expanded to embrace all those cases in which chemical
gradients occur in magma bodies. Therefore, although in the following
we mainly show pictures and examples concerning the mixing of
magmas with contrasting compositions (for the obvious reason that
the outcomes of the mixing process are most easily visible), it should
be always kept in mind that the same arguments are equally valid for
any magmatic system in which compositional gradients occur and
rheological contrasts allow the mixing process to develop.
From a structural point of view the products of magma mixing
processes can be grouped into three main classes:
i) flow structures;
ii) magmatic enclaves;
iii) physico-chemical disequilibria in crystals.
It is worth noting that while classes (i) and (ii) are exclusive of
magma mixing processes, the presence of class (iii) structures in
igneous rocks does not necessarily imply compositional gradients.
Indeed, it has been documented, for instance, that especially in volcanic
rocks, physical and chemical disequilibria in minerals may be induced
by decompression during magma ascent toward the Earth's surface
(e.g. Stewart and Fowler, 2001).

3. The witnesses of magma mixing processes 3.1. Flow structures

Magma mixing processes can occur potentially in any geological
environment, from deep crustal magma chambers to volcanic conduits
(e.g. Fig. 3) and produce several witnesses of their occurrence. Before
embarking in further discussion, however, it is worth establishing
some kind of jargon that will be used throughout this manuscript.
With the term flow structures we refer to portions of a magma
having a wide spatial continuity dispersed within a compositionally
different host magma (e.g. De Rosa et al., 1996, Ventura, 2001).
Generally, these structures can be readily recognized in the outcrop
as they show alternating light and dark colored bands. Fig. 4 shows

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
4 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

e c

Fig. 3. Illustration showing the occurrence of magma mixing processes in various igneous environments and the geological record, from deep crustal magma chambers to volcanic
conduits. Pictures shown from the different environments are from the following outcrops: a) Terra Nova Intrusive Complex (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica; e.g. Di Vincenzo
and Rocchi, 1999); b) Monte Capanne (Island of Elba, Tuscan Magmatic Province, Italy; e.g. Dini et al., 2002) and Philippi (Northern Greece; e.g. Eleftheriadis et al., 1995) plutons;
c) Monte Guardia lava domes (Lipari, Aeolian Islands, Italy; De Rosa et al., 2003); d) Pollara pyroclastic deposits (Salina, Aeolian Islands, Italy; REF); e) a Lesvos lava flow (Island of
Lesvos, Greece; Perugini et al., 2003a).

some examples of fluid structures occurring in volcanic rocks. In
particular, Fig. 4a and b shows flow structures generated by interaction
in lava flows outcropping on the island of Lesvos (North-Eastern
Greece; Perugini et al., 2003a), whereas Fig. 4c and d displays structures
in two lava flows on the island of Salina and Vulcano (Aeolian islands,
Southern Italy), respectively (Perugini et al., 2003a).
Flow structures are less abundant in plutonic rocks (e.g. Didier and
Barbarin, 1991); Fig. 5 shows some of these structures occurring in
the Sithonia Plutonic Complex (Greece; Fig. 5a; e.g. Perugini et al.,
2003b), in the pluton of Monte Capanne (Elba Island, Italy; Fig. 5b;
e.g. Dini et al., 2002) and in the pluton of Philippi (Greece; Fig. 5c
and d; e.g. Eleftheriadis et al., 1995).
Flow structures highlight the flow fields developing during the
magma mixing process and generate rocks in which mixing dynamics
remained fossilized.
3.2. Magmatic enclaves
This is probably the structural evidence that, according to common
thinking, mostly characterizes magma mixing processes. The term

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 5

a b

c d
Fig. 4. Examples of flow structures occurring in volcanic rocks; a and b) flow structures from a lava flow from the Island of Lesvos (Greece; Perugini et al., 2003a); c and d) structures
in two lava flows outcropping on the island of Salina and Vulcano (Aeolian islands, Italy), respectively (Perugini et al., 2003a).

magmatic enclave is utilized to identify a discrete portion of a magma
occurring within a host magma with a different composition (e.g.
Bacon, 1986, Didier and Barbarin, 1991). Generally, enclaves display
quite sharp contacts with the host rock, although it is not rare to
observe that some enclaves display engulfments. Some examples of
enclaves found in the volcanic environment are shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6a and b shows enclaves belonging to lava flows outcropping on
the island of Salina (Aeolian Islands; e.g. De Rosa et al., 1996). Fig. 6c
displays a deformed magmatic enclave with an intermediate shape
between a magmatic enclave and a flow structure (Vulcano, Aeolian

a b

c d
Fig. 5. Flow structures in plutonic rocks; a) Sithonia Plutonic Complex (Greece; e.g. Perugini et al., 2003b); b) Monte Capanne pluton (Elba Island, Tuscan Magmatic Province, Italy;
e.g. Dini et al., 2002); c and d) the pluton of Philippi (Northern Greece; e.g. Eleftheriadis et al., 1995).

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
6 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

b c

d e
Fig. 6. Examples of enclaves in volcanic rocks; a and b) enclaves from Porri lava flows outcropping on the island of Salina (Aeolian Islands, Italy; e.g. De Rosa et al., 1996); c) magmatic
enclave from Punta Lena lava flow (Island of Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy; e.g. De Astis et al., 1997); d) enclave from the endogenous Khaggiar lava dome on the Island of Pantelleria
(Italy; Perugini et al., 2002); e) enclave from the Pietre Cotte lava flow (Volcano, Aeolian Islands; Perugini et al., 2007) hosted in a glassy (dark bands around the enclave) and
vesicular rhyolitic mass; plagioclase (light color) and pyroxene (dark green) crystals are visible within the enclave. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Islands). Fig. 6d and e reports two enclaves occurring within the
Khaggiar lava dome (Pantelleria, Italy; Perugini et al., 2002) and the
Pietre Cotte lava flow (Vulcano, Aeolian Islands; Perugini et al.,
2007), respectively. Although contacts between enclaves and host
rocks are generally sharp, from Fig. 6 it can be observed that the
margins of some enclaves are characterized by gulfs and embayments.
In the plutonic environment magmatic enclaves are, macroscopically,
one of the most important indicators of the occurrence of magmatic
interaction processes. In the literature, these enclaves have received a
lot of attention and they have been named with the acronym MME
(Mafic Microgranular Enclaves; e.g. Didier and Barbarin, 1991). This
acronym refers to the fact that MME have a smaller grain size and less
evolved geochemical and mineralogical characteristics with respect to
the host rock. Fig. 7a and b shows two MME occurring in the granitoid
rocks of the Sithonia Plutonic Complex (Greece; Perugini et al., 2003b),
whereas Fig. 7c and d displays two enclaves belonging to the pluton of
Monte Capanne (Tuscan Magmatic Province, Elba Island, Italy; e.g. Dini
et al., 2002). Pictures show that, although contacts between enclaves
and host rocks may appear quite sharp, enclave boundaries are often
interrupted by the inter-digitations between the mafic and felsic
magmas. Fig. 7c and d shows the occurrence of mineralogical phases
belonging to the host magma within the enclaves, a quite common
feature of MME. In the case of Fig. 7c and d, the phenomenon is well-
evidenced by the presence of K-feldspar megacrysts of the host magma
in MME. In Fig. 7d the K-feldspar megacryst shows a resorbed and
rounded core around which a euhedral K-feldspar has grown. The occur-
rence of disequilibrium textures in mineral phases belonging to the host
magma that have been trapped within MME is another common feature
of MME.
In some granitoid masses, especially in those rock volumes
thought to represent the vicinity of the injection zone of the mafic
magma into the felsic one, enclaves display a wide variety of

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 7

a b

c d
Fig. 7. Examples of Mafic Microgranular Enclaves (MME) in plutonic rocks; a and b) MME occurring in the Sithonia Plutonic Complex (Northern Greece; Perugini et al., 2003b); c
and d) MME in the pluton of Monte Capanne (Island of Elba, Tuscan Magmatic Province, Italy; e.g. Dini et al., 2002); c) and d) also show the occurrence of crystals belonging to the
host magma passing to the MME in the Monte Capanne pluton.

morphology of the contact interfaces (e.g. Perugini and Poli, 2005,
2011, Wiebe et al., 2001). These can range from rounded to extremely
complex, with fingers of the mafic magma propagating toward the
host felsic magma. Some examples of these structures occurring in
the Terra Nova Intrusive Complex (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica;
Perugini et al., 2005) are shown in Fig. 8. These morphologies are
typically observed in plutonic rocks and rare examples have been
reported in volcanic outcrops (e.g. Perugini et al., 2007).
3.3. Chemico-physical disequilibria in crystals
Regarding crystals showing physico-chemical disequilibria, possible
types are virtually endless and a systematic review can be found in
Hibbard (1991). Here we limit our discussion to resorption and zoning
textures (e.g. Anderson, 1984, Ginibre et al., 2002, Wallace and
Bergantz, 2002). Fig. 9a shows such textures for a plagioclase crystal
occurring in the granitoid rocks of the Sithonia Plutonic Complex
(Northern Greece; e.g. Perugini et al., 2003b). Fig. 9b and c displays
disequilibrium textures for diopside and plagioclase crystals from the
Santa Venera lava flow (Mt. Etna, Italy; Perugini et al., 2003c) and
Capraia (Tuscan Magmatic Province, Italy; Perugini et al., 2005) volca-
nites, respectively. The injection of a hot mafic magma into a felsic
magma produces dramatic thermal and compositional disequilibria
(e.g. Bateman, 1995, Sparks and Marshall, 1986) and minerals already
present in the magmatic mass necessarily react to these disequilibria.
For instance, minerals occurring in the low-temperature felsic magma
are expected to undergo a remelting/resorption process because of
the increase in temperature. However, depending on the relative timing
of resorption kinetics and attainment of new thermal equilibrium con-
ditions, the resorption process may not be completed. Variably resorbed
grains can act as nuclei for the growth of the same mineral species, but
with a different composition (e.g. Fig. 9), the latter depending on the
initial composition of interacting magmas and their relative propor-
tions. Compositional heterogeneity generated by the mixing process
in the magmatic mass can also play a role in determining the extent of
resorption and growth of minerals (e.g. Anderson, 1984, Perugini et
al., 2003b). Resorption and growth processes can be repeated in time
leading to the production of extremely complex oscillatory zoning
patterns. Disequilibrium textures are typically considered as good
indicators of magma mixing processes but, as pointed out above,
caution should be exerted to interpret them as a univocal evidence of
magma mixing. Mineral disequilibria are extraordinary probes for
magma mixing and helpful petrological tools only when additional
features can be recognized in the rocks. In particular, the association
with mafic enclaves and/or flow structures makes mineral disequilibria
excellent tools to investigate the small length-scale propagation of
compositional heterogeneity in the igneous system during mixing
(e.g. Ginibre et al., 2002, Perugini et al., 2003b,c). Disequilibrium
textures in mineralogical phases are a common feature in both the
plutonic and volcanic rocks characterized by magma mixing processes
(e.g. Hibbard, 1991).
3.4. Geochemical evidence for magma mixing
Although this work mainly focuses on the structural and textural
evidence arising during mixing of magmas, it is worth also discussing

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
8 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
a
b systems. The fundamental process producing physical mixing is the
c typically arises from the development, in space and time, of a chaotic
Fig. 8. MME in the Terra Nova Intrusive Complex (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica;
Perugini et al., 2005). Pictures show representative examples of interfaces between
MME and the felsic magma showing large variability of morphologies whose complexity
increases from a) to c).
some geochemical aspects of this process. In fact, structural and
textural features are tightly connected with the modulation of
geochemical composition of the mixing system. From the geochemical
point of view, it is a common belief that magma mixing processes
must produce linear trends in inter-elemental binary plots for any
couple of major or trace elements (e.g. Fourcade and Allegre, 1981,
Rollinson, 1993). The mixing process is thus modeled using a simple
linear equation relating the mass fraction of interacting end-member
magmas and element concentrations. However, especially in the
case of interaction between mafic (high-temperature) and felsic
(low-temperature) magmas, this linear model is not likely to model
adequately geochemical trends as crystallization of the mafic magma
(as well as re-melting or dissolution of crystals that were already
present in either magma) may occur introducing a further complication
in the modeling. For this reason some authors (e.g. Poli and Tommasini,
1999, Poli et al., 1996) suggested that a more satisfactory model is the
so-called “Mixing plus Fractional Crystallization” (MFC) model. This
model has a mathematical formulation analogous to the “Assimilation
and Fractional Crystallization” AFC model (De Paolo, 1981). According
to this model the assimilant would be a felsic magma into which a
mafic magma intrudes and mixes with. During mixing the mafic
magma undergoes fractional crystallization and a progressively more
evolved melt is generated.
Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
The major issue about both of the above geochemical models is
that they are expected to produce a monotonously increasing (or
decreasing, depending on the relative concentrations of chemical
elements of end-member magma) trends in binary plots. In addition,
according to these models the magmatic system is assumed to be
completely homogeneous at any instant and everywhere during its
evolution. As will be clarified below, these assumptions may lead to
strong oversimplifications with two main disadvantages: i) the
igneous system is modeled with a large degree of approximation and
ii) a lot of information, crucial to understand the space and time
evolution of a magma body, can be potentially lost.
4. The kinematics of magma mixing
The mixing of magmas is a dynamic process whose evolution is
tightly linked to the fluid-dynamics governing the magmatic mass.
Fluid-dynamics affects the spatio-temporal evolution of the igneous
system and is responsible for the production of the magma mixing
evidence in the rocks (i.e. flow structures, enclaves, mineral disequi-
libria, geochemical variability). To fully understand the space and
time modulation of compositional fields generated by magma mixing,
it is worth first briefly discussing some basic fluid dynamics concepts.
This will be also useful to understand some of the major differences
between the magma mixing evidence in plutonic and volcanic
stretching and folding of two fluids. The stretching and folding
process also represents the basic dynamics leading to chaotic behavior.
This implies, therefore, that chaotic dynamics is intrinsic to fluid mixing
processes (e.g. Ottino, 1989a,b). To visualize this process, Fig. 10 illus-
trates a fluid dynamic experiment, in which a black fluid is mixed
with a white fluid (Welander, 1955). As the mixing process progresses
in time (from Fig. 10b to d), the original black square (Fig. 10a) is elon-
gated and subsequently folded over upon itself, generating an intricate
lamellar pattern of flow structures (Fig. 10d). It is worth noting that
such structures can range over many length scales producing scale-
invariant “fractal” patterns (e.g. Ott and Antonsen, 1989). This outcome
process. The generation of filaments produced by stretching and
folding, at several length scales (down to the micron-length scale), is
a pre-requisite for efficient mixing (e.g. Ottino, 1989a). This is because
the contact area between fluids increases exponentially, resulting in
enhanced chemical exchange through diffusion.
The study of natural examples bearing evidence of magma interaction
has shown that magma mixing is a chaotic process (e.g. Flinders and
Clemens, 1996, Perugini et al., 2003a, 2006, Poli and Perugini, 2002).
From a kinematic point of view, the mixing of magmas is governed by
the same stretching and folding processes which are responsible for
(a) the development of chaotic dynamics in fluid mixing systems and
(b) the production of scale invariant (fractal) patterns, down to the
micron-length scale. The fact that magma mixing is a chaotic process
means that the investigation of its kinematics can be reduced to the
study of stretching and folding of those melts involved in the mixing
process and to the onset of chemical diffusion. To date, this approach
has been undertaken using numerical models and experiments
performed with high-temperature and high-viscosity natural and
synthetic melts, which have taken into consideration both advection
(stretching and folding) and diffusion (e.g. De Campos et al., 2011,
Perugini et al., 2003a, 2003b, 2003c, 2006, 2008). In particular, 2D
numerical models have been developed considering mixing of melts
(the effects of crystals, bubbles or fluids were not included in the
modeling) with similar rheology (i.e. viscosity and density) using a
class of dynamics systems known as “iterated-maps”. The stretching
and folding of melts were governed by a simple sinusoidal velocity
field that creates complex structures, topologically equivalent to those
observed in real rock samples (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003a, 2003b,
2003c). A finite difference scheme was used to simulate the chemical
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 9

a b

c
Fig. 9. Examples of resorption and zoning textures produced during magma mixing; a) plagioclase crystal occurring in the granodioritic rocks of the Sithonia Plutonic Complex
(Northern Greece; e.g. Perugini et al., 2003b) showing several resorption and growth zones; b) Back-Scattered Electron (BSE) image of a diopside crystal from the Santa Venera
(Mt. Etna, Italy; Perugini et al., 2003c) showing a resorbed core of Cr–Al diopside composition around which an Al–Fe3 + diopside has grown; c) BSE image of oscillatory zoning
in a plagioclase crystal (with a resorbed core) from the Laghetto lava flow (Island of Capraia; Tuscan Magmatic Province, Italy; Perugini et al., 2005).

diffusion process between mixing melts during advection (Perugini et al.,
2003a, 2003b, 2003c, 2006, 2008). Experiments with high-temperature
(1400 °C) and high-viscosity (in the range of 1.4–1550 Pas) natural and
synthetic melts (without crystals) were performed using several
geometric protocols in which the stretching and folding of melts was
triggered by rotation of cylinders in the concentric Taylor–Couette con-
figuration (De Campos et al., 2004, Perugini et al., 2008) and the eccentric
cylinder Journal–Bearing system (De Campos et al., 2010). This approach
has enabled the investigation of the interplay between flow fields and
the modulation of geochemical composition in the mixing system. In
addition, results highlighted a strong similarity between patterns
obtained from numerical simulations and experiments and natural struc-
tures (i.e. flow structures and magmatic enclaves; e.g. Perugini et al.,
2003a, 2003b, 2003c, 2006, 2008, De Campos et al., 2011). Therefore,
despite its simplicity, a system consisting of advection (i.e. stretching
and folding) and diffusion contains all necessary information for replicat-
ing the magma mixing process.
The power of numerical models and experiments is that they
allow us to follow the time development of mixing processes. This
cannot be done on natural outcrops, because they only represent
frozen moments of the magma mixing process. The possibility to
follow mixing processes in time represents a tipping point to decipher
analogies and differences between magma mixing structures in
plutonic and volcanic environments.
Fig. 11a shows the flow fields associated with a numerical system
that has been widely used to simulate magma mixing processes (e.g.
Perugini et al., 2003a, 2004, Petrelli et al., 2006). We use this system
as a template to discuss the relationship between fluid dynamics and
the production of magma mixing evidence in the rocks. In particular,
the figure represents the Poincarè section of flow (e.g. Ottino, 1989a),
and reflects the state of the fluid-dynamic system for a given value of
a control parameter; more about technical details can be found in
Perugini et al. (2003a). The image shows that regular regions, consisting
of closed trajectories (elliptic regions), coexist with irregular regions
where the points are iterated in a more irregular way (dotted regions).
The coexistence of different regions within the same fluid-dynamic
system is typical of fluid mixing systems (including magma mixing)
and has been widely documented in the fluid-dynamics literature (e.g.
Ottino, 1989a). Bearing in mind that the efficiency of mixing lies in
the ability of the components involved in the process to spread across
the system, possibly in an irregular way (e.g. Ottino, 1989a), it follows
that irregular and regular regions of the map (Fig. 11a) represent
system volumes where fluids will be well mixed (Active Regions, AR)
and poorly mixed (Coherent Regions, CR), respectively.
To follow the mixing process induced by the iteration of the map,
we considered the initial configuration presented in Fig. 11b, in which
blobs of one magma (black circles) are placed inside another magma
(white colored square). This initial configuration is a convenient
choice to reduce computation time and does not affect significantly
the outcome of the simulation. The stretching and folding dynamics
promoting the chaotic mixing process will, in fact, rapidly disperse
the two magmas throughout the whole system and no memory of
the initial transient configuration will remain in the outcome from
the simulation. Blobs of the black magma were placed inside both
coherent regions (CR) and active regions (AR). The stretching and
folding process has been coupled with a chemical diffusion numerical
scheme in order to simulate chemical exchanges during the mixing
process (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003a). The time evolution of the mixing
system is displayed in Fig. 11c–e. Blobs inside AR mixed intimately
due to the high stretching and folding rate they experienced and

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
10 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

a b

c d
Fig. 10. Chaotic mixing between a black colored and a white colored fluid (from Welander, 1955) showing the spatial and temporal complexity triggered by the combined action of
stretching and folding dynamics during mixing. The experiment was performed in a rectangular vessel of dimensions 50 × 30 × 3 0 cm filled with water to half the depth. On the
water surface, a dark butanol film, corresponding to the black square (a), has been stirred by moving a square grid to produce the mixing pattern (b–d).

regions with hybrid compositions are quickly generated. On the
contrary, blobs inside CR did not undergo vigorous stretching and
folding processes, but remained as discrete entities, although showing
some minor deformations (Fig. 11). The evolution of the mixing
process in the different dynamic regions is related to the fact that in
AR there is an exponential increase of interface area between magmas,
whereas in CR the contact area between magmas remains constant
(e.g. Perugini et al., 2003a). As a result, chemical diffusion is very
efficient in AR, whereas it plays only a minor role in changing the
initial composition of the black magma trapped in the CR.
There is a striking similarity between the structures obtained
numerically (Fig. 11) and the structures occurring on natural outcrops
(e.g. Fig. 3e; Fig. 4). In particular, the two types of structures repre-
sented by irregular and regular regions (AR and CR), where magmas
are subjected to different degrees of mingling, can be recognized in
both nature and modeled systems (compare, for instance, Figs. 11
and 3e). In particular, it can be said that magmas trapped in AR have
a very high probability to evolve toward the morphology that we
named as flow structures; these are generated by the occurrence of
highly efficient stretching and folding dynamics in the magmatic
system. On the contrary, magmas trapped in the CR do not undergo
efficient deformation and can survive the mixing process producing
the second and more common type of morphology known as magmatic
enclaves. Therefore, the morphological variability recognized in igneous
rocks can be interpreted considering the fluid-dynamic history of the
magmatic system and its time and space evolution. That is to say,
magmatic enclaves and flow structures are simply the expression of the
dynamical evolution of a magma body. Accepting this conclusion leads
to an important question: why are magmatic enclaves common in
both plutonic and volcanic rocks, whereas fluid structures are mostly

a b c d e
Mixing time

Fig. 11. Numerical system used to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of magma mixing processes (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003a); a) Poincarè section of the flow showing that
Coherent Regions (CR) coexist with Active Regions (AR) within the same system; b–e) time evolution of mixing processes considering the dynamic template shown in a) and
highlighting the effect of CR and AR on the development of the mixing process.

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
observed in volcanic rocks? The answer to this question can be found
again considering the time evolution of the magmatic system. Magmas
trapped in the CR do not experience much deformation and, hence, they
are very difficult to be erased completely by chemical diffusion. This
makes these structures to be easily observed in both plutonic and volca-
nic rocks. On the other hand, flow structures, due to their fractal nature
(i.e. they propagate as filaments down to the micrometric length scale;
e.g. Perugini et al., 2003a), can be quickly erased by diffusion. This
means that their survival probability in an igneous system decreases
as the time during which the system remains in a molten or partially
molten state increases. This is probably the reason why flow structures
are common in volcanic rocks, in which the mixing process has been fro-
zen in time by the eruption, and, instead, they are rare in plutonic rocks.
In the above discussion we did not include the likely occurrence of
minerals in one or both magmas. Minerals undergo the same fluid-
dynamics experienced by melts but, because of their solid state,
they can be passively transported (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c, 2005).
As minerals travel throughout the magmatic system they can be
trapped within AR or CR and this will define the future reaction of
minerals to the chemico-physical disequilibrium. In fact, both
temperature and chemical composition are scalar quantities and
they are advected by flow fields (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c). This
implies that the extent of disequilibrium they will experience will
strongly depend on the dynamical region (AR or CR) they are trapped
in. In detail, if minerals travel within Active Regions, the probability to
encounter abrupt temperature and compositional changes is high,
because in these regions heat and composition are quickly transferred
between magmas. In AR, chemical exchanges are rapid and this favors
growth of minerals leading to crystals displaying multiple resorption
and growth zones and, ultimately, complex oscillatory zoning
patterns. On the contrary, if minerals remain in Coherent Regions
they will be “protected” by abrupt changes by the close structure of
flow fields and the extent of disequilibrium (resorption) and growth
they will experience will be limited (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c).
Given the fractal structure of flow fields developing during chaotic
mixing processes we should expect, hence, that minerals with very
different histories must coexist in the same system and at very
short length-scales, even in the same thin section. Indeed, the analysis
of natural samples supports this discussion. In particular, it has been
shown (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c, 2005, Slaby et al., 2010, 2011) that
minerals with different zoning patterns occur side by side in the
same rock thin section and this can be explained considering models
of magma mixing (i.e. advection and diffusion) in which minerals
are transported by chaotic flow fields.
In principle, the compositional zoning in mineral phases produced
by magma mixing can be expected to be erased progressively by
diffusion as the residence time of crystals in a magma increases.
This may imply that mineral disequilibrium textures should be
much more evident in the volcanic than in the plutonic environment.
However, solid-state diffusion of chemical elements is an extremely
slow process for many minerals (e.g. Zhang and Cherniak, 2010 and
references therein). Even in long-lived plutonic systems solid-state
diffusion is not likely to erase completely the zoning pattern. There-
fore, the survival probability of disequilibria in most minerals is
high in both the plutonic and volcanic environments. This is probably
the reason why disequilibrium textures related to magma mixing
processes are commonly observed in both environments.
The development of chaotic dynamics in the magmatic mass during
mixing has also profound consequences on the geochemical features of
resulting rocks. In particular, recent research has highlighted that a
strong modulation of element concentrations can occur during chaotic
magma mixing, resulting in the development of an additional petrolog-
ical process named diffusive fractionation (De Campos et al., 2011,
Perugini et al., 2006, 2008). As discussed above, during mixing the con-
tact area between interacting magmas in AR increases exponentially
with time and, consequently, chemical diffusion becomes progressively
Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
11
more efficient. Chemical exchanges are subjected to the so-called
“Sensitivity upon Initial Conditions” (SIC) of chaotic systems. Such a
property, popularly known as the “butterfly effect”, states that a small
change at one place in a dynamic system can result in large differences
at later stages. The effect of SIC during chaotic mixing manifests itself in
the fact that nearby trajectories of the flow field diverge exponentially
in time. With decreasing initial distance between pairs of trajectories,
the time span at which they will start to diverge increases exponentially.
We can conceive chemical diffusion as the process carrying elements
from a certain portion of the magmatic system to another portion,
according to a given concentration gradient (Fig. 12a). The distance
(x) traveled by an element depends on the diffusion coefficient (D):
the larger D, the larger the distance. If two elements (e.g. La and Pr)
have a similar D (e.g. Nakamura and Kushiro, 1998), the distance they
will travel in the same time span will be similar; on the contrary, if
two elements (e.g. La and Lu) have different Ds (e.g. Nakamura and
Kushiro, 1998) the distance they will travel will be different (Fig. 12a).
It follows that compositionally variable melts can be generated depend-
ing on the relative mobility of elements. The chaotic mixing process will
disperse these volumes of melts according to SIC. Since elements La and
Pr have the same D, their relative location will be constant for a certain
time during advection (Fig. 12b). On the contrary elements such as La
and Lu will experience the effect of SIC much more rapidly because of
the larger difference in D (Fig. 12c). This process is revealed by
geochemical analyses of rocks as a variable correlation between
elements in binary plots. As an example, elements having similar D
values, will tend to be well correlated in binary plots defining linear
patterns, as it should be expected from a two end-member mixing
process (Fig. 12c). On the contrary, at the same time, element with
different D will be strongly uncorrelated in binary plots, defining much
more complex patterns (Fig. 12c). The effect of this process is the devel-
opment of a diffusive fractionation of chemical elements (Perugini et al.,
2006). This process has been recognized for major and trace elements in
both natural samples and magma mixing experiments performed with
high-viscosity and high-temperature melts (e.g. De Campos et al.,
2011; Fig. 13), indicating that the space and time evolution of chaotic
mixing processes can lead to a plethora of new compositional patterns
in binary inter-elemental plots which, in many cases, cannot be
modeled by any of the existing geochemical models of magma
differentiation.
The above features are likely to be mostly recognizable in glassy
volcanic rocks, where the glass represents the magmatic liquid that
experienced the diffusive fractionation process and that has been
frozen by the eruption. In the plutonic environment, such a process
may not be recognized since additional extensive elemental fraction-
ation may have occurred during crystallization or by fluid-driven
sub-solidus transport (e.g. Heimann et al., 2008), potentially masking
the diffusive fractionation process. However, this field of research is
still at its embryonic stage and its petrological and volcanological
implications still need to be fully understood.
5. Exploiting the magma mixing evidence in plutonic and volcanic
rocks
The analogies and differences highlighted above between magma
mixing processes recorded in plutonic and volcanic outcrops can be
exploited to gain different bits of information from the two environ-
ments. In the chart of Fig. 14 we attempt to schematize the different
information that can be obtained to date from the study of magma mixing
processes from the plutonic and volcanic environments considering the
structural and textural evidence left by the mixing process in the rocks.
5.1. Flow structures
Flow structures mostly occur in the volcanic environment where
the development of mixing dynamics has been frozen in time by the
12 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

a
La
xLa
xPr
xLa Pr
xLu
Lu
DLa DPr xLa xPr
DLa> DLu xLa> xLu
b

75
c La La
70

65

60

55

50

45

40

35 Pr Lu
7 9 11 13 15 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Fig. 12. Illustration of the diffusive fractionation process of chemical elements triggered by chaotic mixing processes; a) portion of mixing system with filaments of one magma (red
strips) dispersed into another magma (yellow color) illustrating the different distance (x) covered by elements having similar (e.g. La and Pr) and different (La and Lu) diffusion
coefficients (D); b) behavior of diffusing chemical elements superimposed on a hypothetical chaotic flow field. The transport of elements is strongly controlled by the Sensitivity
upon Initial Conditions (SIC) with elements having similar D remaining one close to the other for some time during the mixing process and elements with different D strongly
diverging; c) the effect of this process is that elements with similar D values will be linearly correlated in binary plots, whereas, at the same time, elements with different D will
show complex pattern. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
From Perugini et al., 2006).

eruption. Although in some cases plutonic outcrops display these
kind of structures, it should be first made clear if they are “primary”
(i.e. unmodified) morphologies related to fluid dynamics or they are
representative of late deformation events that occurred within the
plutonic mass (i.e. syn-tectonic deformation, rheological transitions,
etc.). On this respect a class of intriguing flow structures observed
in plutonic rocks and commonly referred to as schlieren (mostly
formed by alignments of mafic minerals such as biotites or amphiboles),
were the focus of several works (e.g. Barriere, 1981, Weinberg et al.,
2001, Wiebe et al., 2007). Some schlieren resemble sedimentary
structures such as graded bedding and cross-bedding; these are inter-
preted as the result of magmatic flow, erosion and deposition at the
floor of the magma chamber (e.g. McCarthy and Groves, 1979). Other
schlieren show planar, arcuate, cylindrical or irregular and complex
morphologies (e.g. Weinberg et al., 2001). Although a great variety of
such structures in different plutonic bodies has been documented,
there is a general agreement that they record shear flow of crystal-rich
magma. However, there is no agreement on the causes of the shear
flow. Some authors suggest multiple emplacements of crystal-rich
magmas (e.g. Wilshire, 1969), flow of crystal-rich magma around

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 13

a b

c d

Fig. 13. Panels a and b) show geochemical data from a lava flow outcropping of the Island of Lesvos (Greece; Perugini et al., 2006) showing that, as predicted by numerical modeling
(Fig. 12), elements with similar (a) and different (b) diffusion coefficients display linear and non-linear correlations in binary plots, respectively; c and d) representative experimental
data obtained by the geochemical analysis of a chaotic two end-member magma mixing experiment (De Campos et al., 2011) showing the strong non-linear correlation between couples
of elements; the plot in d) is an enlargement of the plot in c) marked by the gray shaded area). The experiment was performed with a new apparatus developed to perform chaotic mixing
experiments of high-viscosity (in the range of 1.4–1550 Pas) melts at high-temperature (1400 °C). The apparatus consists of an outer and an inner cylinder, which can be independently
rotated at finite strains to generate chaotic streamlines. The two cylinder axes are offset. The experiment was performed for ca. 2 h, under laminar fluid dynamic conditions (Reynolds
number on the order of 10− 7) by mixing a peralkaline haplogranitic and a haplobasaltic melt. The viscosity ratio between these two melts was of the order of 103. The variability of
major elements in the glassy experimental sample (approximate size 2.5 cm) was analyzed by electron microprobe (EMPA). Additional details about experimental conditions and
end-member compositions can be found in De Campos et al. (2011).

sinking enclaves (e.g. Clarke, 2003), mafic injections triggering convec-
tion in granitic cumulates (e.g. Barriere, 1981, Weinberg et al., 2001),
and a rising vapor bubble (e.g. Clarke, 2003). Unfortunately, there is no
univocal evidence and/or criteria to distinguish among the possibilities.
Surely magma mixing is involved in the formation of some of these
structures (e.g. Wiebe et al., 2007, Zak and Klominsky, 2007), but they
cannot be all univocally described by invoking this process. Including
schlieren structures as a typical outcome of magma mixing processes
is not straightforward and their petrographic and geochemical charac-
teristics should be carefully evaluated on a case by case basis.
Flow structures can be used as tracers of the fluid dynamics that
governed the magmatic system and hence they represent exceptional
proxies to study the temporal and spatial evolution of compositional
fields (e.g. De Rosa et al., 2002, Perugini et al., 2003a). However,
given the potential problems associated with plutonic outcrops, the
study and quantification of the fluid dynamics of magma bodies
should be based on the investigation of flow structures in volcanic
rocks. This does not mean that the reconstruction of the fluid dynamics
history of plutonic bodies is denied a priori. This kind of information in
plutonic rocks can still be gained by detailed studies of the zoning
pattern of crystal populations (see below).
The study of flow structures can be associated with the investigation
of minerals occurring in these regions to gain further knowledge about
the effects of fluid dynamics upon the development of thermal and
compositional disequilibria and, hence, on the development of resorp-
tion phenomena and the occurrence of complex zoning patterns
commonly observed in minerals (e.g. Ginibre et al., 2002, Perugini et
al., 2005, Wallace and Bergantz, 2002).
If flow structures occur in glassy volcanic rocks, they represent
exceptional messengers to reconstruct the chemical exchanges occur-
ring during mixing (e.g. De Rosa et al., 2002, Perugini et al., 2003a).
Although the modeling of such chemical exchanges is not trivial,
because of the high non-linearity of these processes, the study of
these structures is of paramount importance to establish firm
constraints about the differential mobility of chemical elements in
igneous bodies.
5.2. Magmatic enclaves
Magmatic enclaves are ubiquitous in both plutonic and volcanic
rocks. However, the quantity and quality of information that can be
gained from their study are substantially different in the two
environments.
As highlighted above, plutonic magmatic enclaves occurring close
to the injection point of the mafic magma into the felsic one display a
variety of shapes ranging from rounded to finger-like morphologies.
It has been suggested that the morphology of the contact interface
between the two magmas may reflect the viscosity contrast during

Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
14 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Structural Information gained from
and textural
evidence Volcanic environment
Fluid dynamics of the magma body.
Flow Spatio-temporal evolution of the
structures mixing process.
Chemical exchanges between
magmas in AR.
Development of diffusive frationation
processes.
Estimate of mixing and eruption
timescales.
Magmatic
enclaves magma.
by the felsic one.
Estimate of mixing and eruption
timescales.
Mineral Fluid dynamics of the magma body.
disequilibria Small scale modulation of
Spatio-temporal evolution of the
mixing process.
Estimate of mixing and eruption
timescales.
Fig. 14. Chart schematizing the different information that can be obtained to date about magma mixing processes from the plutonic and volcanic environments considering the
structural and textural evidence left by the mixing process in the rocks.
the invasion of the felsic magma chamber by the mafic magma (e.g.
Perugini and Poli, 2005, 2011). In particular, the combined use of
fractal analysis of contact interfaces and fluid dynamics experiments
has indicated that the higher the complexity of the mafic/felsic
contact, the higher the viscosity ratio. Mafic enclaves, therefore,
represent exceptional witnesses for studying the evolution of rheological
contrasts between magmas during the initial stages of their interaction,
opening a new window on this crucial stage of the mixing process that
was not accessible up to now. In rare cases similar morphologies have
been recognized in volcanic rocks (e.g. Perugini et al., 2007, Piochi et
al., 2009). Although their use as markers for the evolution of rheological
contrast between magmas could be feasible, it is not clear if these
morphologies in volcanic rocks can still be considered a primary feature
related to the injection process, or if they are the result of additional
deformation processes occurring between enclaves and the host
magmas while moving toward the Earth's surface.
Given that magmatic enclaves form within Coherent Regions,
where chemical exchange is less efficient, they can play a crucial
role as messengers of the initial composition of the mafic magma/
magmas that took part in the mixing process. However, with the
passing of time enclaves loose progressively their initial composition
because: i) also in the CR, in the long term, chemical diffusion can
represent a process that may alter their composition; ii) crystals
belonging to the host magma are frequently observed within enclaves
(e.g. Fig. 7). Transfer of mineral phases from the host magma to the
mafic magma may be accompanied by transfer of host liquid; this
can lead to a dilution of the mafic magmas by both the felsic liquid
and the liquid formed by totally or partially re-melting of minerals
of the felsic magma. This way mafic enclaves can attain a geochemical
composition which is different from the initial one (e.g. Perugini and
Poli, 2004, Perugini et al., 2003b). The probability of occurrence of this
process also increases with the residence time of enclaves in the
partially molten system. Accordingly, the bulk composition of mafic
enclaves in volcanic rocks is preferable for interpreting original com-
positions of injected mafic magmas relative to enclaves in plutonic
Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
Plutonic environment
This evidence is rare in the plutonic
environment. Only when these
they may provide information about
body.
Reconstruction of the evolution
of rheological contrasts between
magmas.
by the felsic one.
Fluid dynamics of the magma body.
Small scale modulation of
Spatio-temporal evolution of the
mixing process.
rocks. However, in many cases crystals that initially belonged to the
felsic magma are observed in enclaves in volcanic rocks, suggesting
that those enclaves may not necessarily have retained their starting
composition. Therefore, although in most cases mafic enclaves are a
tool to estimate the composition of the initial mafic end-member,
caution should be exerted to consider them as fully representative
of the initial mafic magma.
In some cases glassy enclaves in volcanic rocks can be used to infer
the mixing and eruption timescales (Petrelli et al., 2006). In CR, the
main process influencing enclave composition is diffusion across
their boundaries. By knowing element diffusion coefficients for the
two melts, it is possible to estimate the residence time of magma in
plumbing systems by modeling diffusion profiles across the
enclave–host magma interface (Petrelli et al., 2006). However, to
obtain reasonable estimates for timescales a large population of
different enclaves should be analyzed and results evaluated consistently.
5.3. Chemico-physical disequilibria in mineralogical phases
The zoning pattern forming in minerals during magma mixing is
likely to have recorded the compositional heterogeneity of the system
in the different dynamic regions. Minerals become, hence, messengers
of information about the fluid dynamics operating in the magmatic
system during the development of magma mixing processes. As the
zoning pattern can be well preserved in minerals from both the
plutonic and volcanic rocks, crystal populations from both environ-
ments can be used for this purpose. Recent studies highlighted the
importance of detailed investigations of crystal compositional
variability not only to reconstruct the fluid-dynamic regime governing
the evolution of the igneous body, but also to understand the length-
scale of the compositional variability induced by the mixing process
(e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c, Slaby et al., 2010). This variability has
been found to range from meters to a few microns in both plutonic
and volcanic systems. In addition, crystals grown in different dynamic
regions (i.e. AR and CR) have been recognized in both these igneous
 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
environments (e.g. Perugini et al., 2003c, 2005, Slaby et al., 2010),
corroborating the hypothesis that the modulation of the compositional
variability by chaotic flow fields is a very important process to be taken
into account when dealing with the study of magmatic systems (e.g.
Slaby et al., 2011).
Recently, the study of compositional zoning in minerals in volcanic
systems characterized by magma mixing has been successfully
utilized as a proxy to estimate the residence time of magma in sub-
volcanic reservoirs prior to eruption (e.g. Costa and Chakraborty,
2004, Martin et al., 2010), further highlighting the importance of
disequilibrium induced by magma mixing in providing information
about volcanic systems that would be otherwise inaccessible.
5.4. Geochemistry
The development of chaotic mixing processes in igneous systems
has been demonstrated to be responsible for triggering a diffusive
fractionation process of chemical elements. This idea has been
corroborated by studies of natural outcrops (e.g. Perugini et al.,
2006), numerical simulations (e.g. Perugini et al., 2006, 2008) and
experiments performed with both natural and synthetic melts (e.g.
De Campos et al., 2011, Perugini et al., 2008). In addition, it has
been recently demonstrated (Petrelli et al., 2011) that the mixing
process triggers chaotic dynamics in the whole magma chamber,
producing a fractal (i.e. scale-invariant) distribution of chemical
heterogeneity. This implies that the diffusive fractionation process
occurs with the same probability and efficiency in any volume of
the magmatic mass during mixing of silicate melts. According to
this simplified model, igneous systems could, in principle, be
analyzed at any length-scale (from μm- to m-size samples) and they
should provide the same information. However, this conclusion
pertains to igneous systems in which the mixing process occurs
between two (or more) liquids and the effect of crystals, fluids and
bubbles is neglected. More refined models need to be considered in
which their effect is taken into account, before taking this conclusion
valid for multiphase magmatic systems.
The diffusive fractionation process can be readily recognized in
glassy volcanic rocks, whereas it can be progressively hidden as the
percentage of minerals crystallizing during or after the mixing process
increases. This is because the fractionation of chemical elements dur-
ing crystallization is likely to interfere with the diffusive fractionation
induced by the mixing process. From this perspective, hence, plutonic
rocks are not the best candidates to study this process, whereas glassy
volcanic rocks should be preferred. It should be noted however, that
element fractionation processes in volcanic rocks can also be related
to the presence of fluids in low-P environments (e.g. Veksler, 2004).
Hence, the relative effects and magnitude of the different possible
fractionation processes need to be carefully evaluated.
The main result of diffusive fractionation is the production of highly
non-linear variations in interelemental binary plot (e.g. Fig. 13) that can
be hardly modeled using classic geochemical models (i.e. two end-
member mixing or Mixing plus Fractional Crystallization, MFC). This
line of research still needs to be fully developed and models to account
for the compositional variability induced by the diffusive fractionation
process still need to be defined. However, it is clear that taking into
account this process in the study of the geochemical evolution of
igneous bodies necessarily requires good estimates of chemical element
mobility (e.g. the diffusion coefficients) in the magmatic mass.
Although diffusion coefficients for some chemical elements are
reported in the literature (e.g. Zhang and Cherniak, 2010 and references
therein), systematic studies including all geochemically relevant
elements for natural melts are scarce (e.g. Behrens and Hahn, 2009).
Diffusivities can be determined by performing, for instance, diffusion
couple experiments (e.g. Baker, 1990), but this requires huge experi-
mental efforts because diffusion coefficients should be determined for
many pairs of natural end-member melts with different compositions.
Please cite this article as: Perugini, D., Poli, G., The mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments: Analogies and differences, Lithos
(2012), doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2012.02.002
15
Therefore, probably a long time may pass before the petrological impli-
cations of this diffusive fractionation process can be fully appreciated.
In addition, the study of the compositional variability triggered by
diffusive fractionation in volcanic rocks can provide information
about the timing of the mixing process and eruptions. In particular,
the diffusive fractionation process becomes predictably larger in
time leading to a deterioration of inter-elemental correlations as the
difference in diffusion coefficients increases (e.g. Perugini et al.,
2006, 2008). It follows that we can employ the diffusive fractionation
process as a geochemical clock for measuring the mixing-to-eruption
timescale. In a recent work it has been demonstrated that, applying
the diffusive fractionation conceptual model, the mixing process
lasted about 2–9 days for two volcanic eruptions in the Phlegrean
Fields (Perugini et al., 2010). Given the short time separating the
onset of mixing and the eruption, the mixing process may be
regarded as the triggering factor of eruptions (e.g. Leonard et al.,
2002, Sparks et al., 1977). As a consequence, the mixing timescale
may correspond to the time elapsed between the refilling process
of the magma chamber and the beginning of the eruption. This
further highlights the potential of the study of the effects of
magma mixing as both petrological and volcanological tools.
6. Conclusions
The introduction of new conceptual models (e.g. Chaos Theory)
and analytical techniques (e.g. Fractal Geometry) in the study of
magma mixing processes has given a new impulse to this research
field. As already mentioned, magma mixing can happen anytime
compositional gradients occur in magmatic systems, meaning that
any igneous mass can be potentially affected by the processes
discussed above. Application of these new methods, in combination
with conventional petrological techniques, has shed new light on
many structural, textural, and geochemical features that were long
discussed, but poorly understood. This has been possible by connect-
ing the evidence in the rocks with the basic fluid dynamics of
magmatic masses through the development of numerical models
and experiments performed using natural and synthetic high-
viscosity and high-temperature melts. If on one hand such an
approach may appear to have solved many problems related to the
mixing of magmas in plutonic and volcanic environments, on the
other hand it opened a plethora of new intriguing questions. Among
them, probably the most important is: do we have any chance to
fully understand the complexity inherent to igneous systems without
relying upon simplistic models? Answering to such a question is
certainly not an easy task. However, it is clear that the study of the
evolution of magmatic masses cannot be disconnected in any way
from the dynamics governing these systems in space and time. Taking
into account these dynamics should constitute the very first steps of
any petrological and volcanological research.
From the discussions presented in this work it emerges that the
concepts of chaotic mixing and diffusive fractionation may pose
serious problems in the interpretation of igneous rock compositional
variability if we rely only upon pre-existing conceptual models. Per-
haps we are only scratching the surface of a new world. The explora-
tion of this world may open new and unexplored fields of research
and provide information about additional processes that can play a
fundamental role in modulating the compositional variability of igne-
ous rocks. This challenging issue requires huge theoretical, numerical,
and experimental efforts. It is worthwhile trying since a deeper under-
standing of igneous systems needs to face, sooner or later, the process of
mixing and its consequences.
Acknowledgments
We thank Erdmann S. and an anonymous reviewer for their
comments and useful suggestions. Constructive discussions with
16 D. Perugini, G. Poli / Lithos xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
many colleagues who encouraged us to write this work are also
gratefully acknowledged. This work was partly funded by Humboldt
Foundation (Germany) that awarded DP a Humboldt Fellowship to
carry out research at LMU (Munich, Germany). Grants from the
MIUR and the University of Perugia are also acknowledged.
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