Textural Interpretations from Phase

Diagrams
Binary Systems with
Congruent Melting

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Binary Systems with Congruent Melting

Diabase dike

This forms on the right side of the eutectic

Plagioclase forms before augite Diabasic tecture

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Binary Systems with Congruent Melting

Left of the eutectic get a similar situation

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Binary Systems with Congruent Melting

Gabbro of
the
Stillwater
Complex,
Montana

This forms on the left side of the eutectic

Augite forms before plagioclase Ophitic tecture

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Binary Systems
with Incongruent
Melting

Olivine cores with pyroxene reaction rims

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Binary Systems
with Solid Solution

Textural Interpretations from Phase Diagrams

Zoned plagioclase

Na
Ca

Diversification of Magmas

Evolution of Magmas
Why do we get so much variation in
igneous rocks?

Evolution of Magmas

Types of Magmas:
Primitive
Primary
Parent
Derivative

Evolution of Magmas

Magmatic Differentiation
Any process by which a magma is
able to diversify and produce a
magma or rock of different
composition

Evolution of Magmas

Ways to produce variation:

different source rocks
partial melt fractionation

Evolution of Magmas
Partial melt
fractionation:
Melting begins at
cotectic more
melting means
greater divergence
from cotectic melt.
The Ab-Or-Qtz system with the ternary
cotectic curves and eutectic minima from
0.1 to 3 GPa. Included is the locus of
most granite compositions from Figure
11-2 (shaded) and the plotted positions of
the norms from the analyses in Table 182. Note the effects of increasing pressure
and the An, B, and F contents on the
position of the thermal minima. From
Winter (2001) An Introduction to Igneous
and Metamorphic Petrology. Prentice

Hall.

Evolution of Magmas

Ways to produce variation:

different source rocks
partial melt fractionation
fractional crystallization

Evolution of Magmas
Bowens Reaction
Series:

Evolution of Magmas

Types of FX:
gravity settling
filter pressing
convective fractionation
congelation crystallization
flow differentiation

Evolution of Magmas

Ways to produce variation:

different source rocks

partial melt fractionation
fractional crystallization
assimilation
diffusion/volatile transfer
magma mixing
post-solidification alteration

Origin of Magmas

MORBs

Subduction
Continental

Origin of Magmas
Composition of the Mantle:
ocean crust 6-8km, continental
crust 30+ km
mantle: base of crust to 2900km
crust+mantle to 70km: lithosphere
70 145km: asthenosphere

Origin of Magmas

Composition of the Mantle:

peridotite: olivine + pyroxene
eclogite: pyroxene + garnet

Low pressures (~30km): olivine, Al-poor pyroxene,

plagioclase
Moderate pressures (30-70km: olivine, Al-rich
pyroxene, spinel (MgAl2O4)
High pressures (>70km): olivine, Al-poor pyroxene,
garnet

Origin of Magmas

Lherzolite: A type of peridotite

with Olivine > Opx + Cpx
Olivine
Dunite
90

Ha
rzb
urg
i

te

lite
hr
We

Peridotites

Lherzolite

40

Pyroxenites

Olivine Websterite

Orthopyroxenite

10

10

Orthopyroxene

Websterite
Clinopyroxenite

After IUGS

Clinopyroxene

Origin of Magmas
Can the mantle melt under normal heat flow?

Answer:

NO!

Origin of Magmas
How does the mantle melt??

1) Increase the temperature

May work for

Hot Spots,
Unlikely
elsewhere

Solidus
Solidus
Liquidus

Melting by raising the temperature.

Origin of Magmas
How does the mantle melt??

2) Lower the pressure

Adiabatic rise of mantle with no conductive heat loss

Decompression melting could melt at least 30%

Probably
what
happens
at
spreading
centers

Melting by (adiabatic) pressure reduction. Melting begins when the adiabat crosses the solidus and
traverses the shaded melting interval. Dashed lines represent approximate % melting.

Origin of Magmas
How does the mantle melt??
3) Add volatiles
(especially H2O)

Probably
what
happens at
subduction
zones

Dry peridotite solidus compared to several experiments on H2O-saturated peridotites.

Origin of Magmas
MORBs:

Origin of Magmas
MORBs:
Primitive melt is olivine
tholeiite; dunites,
pyroxenites,
anorthosites and
alkaline basalts are
differentiates

Origin of Magmas
Oceanic Crust and
Upper Mantle
Structure
Typical Ophiolite

Lithology and thickness of a

typical ophiolite sequence,
based on the Samial Ophiolite in
Oman. After Boudier and Nicolas
(1985) Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,
76, 84-92.

Origin of Magmas
Oceanic Crust and Upper Mantle Structure

Layer 1

A thin layer
of pelagic
sediment

Modified after Brown and

Mussett (1993) The Inaccessible
Earth: An Integrated View of Its
Structure and Composition.
Chapman & Hall. London.

Origin of Magmas
Oceanic Crust and Upper Mantle Structure
Layer 2 is basaltic
Subdivided into two
sub-layers

Layer 2A & B =
pillow basalts
Layer 2C = vertical
sheeted dikes
Modified after Brown and
Mussett (1993) The
Inaccessible Earth: An
Integrated View of Its
Structure and
Composition. Chapman &
Hall. London.

Origin of Magmas
Layer 3 more complex and controversial
Believed to be mostly gabbros, crystallized from a shallow axial
magma chamber (feeds the dikes and basalts)

Layer 3A = upper
isotropic and
lower, somewhat
foliated
(transitional)
gabbros
Layer 3B is more
layered, & may
exhibit cumulate
textures

Origin of Magmas
Layer 4 = ultramafic rocks
Ophiolites: base of 3B grades
into layered cumulate
wehrlite & gabbro
Wehrlite intruded into
layered gabbros
Below cumulate dunite
with harzburgite xenoliths
Below this is a tectonite
harzburgite and dunite
(unmelted residuum of the
original mantle)

Origin of Magmas
Massive sulfide deposits

A more modern concept of the axial magma

chamber beneath a fast-spreading ridge

After Perfit et
al. (1994)
Geology, 22,
375-379.

Origin of Magmas
Any model for the origin of magmas at
subduction zones must account for:
1.

First stages of
volcanism
tholeiitic, then
changes to
calcalkaline

ic

o lei
h
it
T

Calc-alkaline

Origin of Magmas
Any model for the origin of magmas at
subduction zones must account for:
2. Trend from tholeiitic
volcanism nearest trench
to calcalkaline towards
continent
tholeiitic

calcalkaline

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of magmas at
subduction zones.
Early Phases

1. Basalt
metamorphoses
to amphibolite;
dunite alters to
serpentinite

2. Amphibolites
dehydrate, H2O
triggers melting
of overlying
mantle
producing
tholeiitic
magmas;
dehydrated slab
becomes
eclogite
Ringwod (1974)

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of magmas at
subduction zones.
Later Phases

1. Dehydration of
serpentinite bodies;
H2O causes partial
melting of eclogite to
form rhyodacite-dacite
magma
2. Magma reacts with
overlying mantle
forms less dense
garnet pyroxenite;
diapiric rise initiates
partial melting;
fractionation
produces calcalkaline magmas
Ringwod (1974)

Origin of Magmas

Continental Magmas:
alkaline rocks
carbonatites
kimberlites
anorthosites
gabbroic layered intrusions
anorogenic granites

Origin of Magmas

Continental Alkaline Magmatism:

Carbonatites

Schematic cross section of an

asthenospheric mantle plume
beneath a continental rift
environment, and the genesis of
nephelinite-carbonatites and
kimberlite-carbonatites . Numbers
correspond to Figure 19-13. After
Wyllie (1989, Origin of
carbonatites: Evidence from
phase equilibrium studies. In K.
Bell (ed.), Carbonatites: Genesis
and Evolution. Unwin Hyman,
London. pp. 500-545) and Wyllie
et al., (1990, Lithos, 26, 3-19).
Winter (2001) An Introduction to
Igneous and Metamorphic
Petrology. Prentice Hall.

Origin of Magmas

Continental Alkaline Magmatism:

Kimberlites

Model of an idealized kimberlite system, illustrating

the hypabyssal dike-sill complex leading to a
diatreme and tuff ring explosive crater. This model
is not to scale, as the diatreme portion is expanded to
illustrate it better. From Mitchell (1986) Kimberlites:
Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology. Plenum.
New York. Winter (2001) An Introduction to Igneous
and Metamorphic Petrology. Prentice Hall.

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of anorthosites

a. Mantle-derived magma underplates the crust as it becomes

density equilibrated.

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of anorthosites

b. Crystallization of mafic phases (which sink), and partial melting

of the crust above the ponded magma. The melt becomes
enriched in Al and Fe/Mg.

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of anorthosites

c. Plagioclase forms when the melt is sufficiently enriched.

Plagioclase rises to the top of the chamber whereas mafics sink.

Origin of Magmas
A model for the origin of anorthosites

d. Plagioclase accumulations become less dense than the crust

above and rise as crystal mush plutons.

Origin of Magmas

e. Plagioclase plutons coalesce to form massif anorthosite,

whereas granitoid crustal melts rise to shallow levels as well.
Mafic cumulates remain at depth or detach and sink into the
mantle.