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 18-2. 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
Bowen’s 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

Peridotites

We
te

hr
i
urg

lite
rzb
Lherzolite
Ha

40

Orthopyroxenite Olivine Websterite Pyroxenites

10

Websterite
10
Clinopyroxenite
Orthopyroxene Clinopyroxene

After IUGS
 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 Solidus

Solidus
Hot Spots,
Unlikely Liquidus
elsewhere

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 F
volcanism
tholeiitic, then
changes to
h o lei
calcalkaline T it

ic
Calc-alkaline

A M
 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 calc-
alkaline 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.