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Partial melting is the phenomenon that occurs when a rock is subjected to temperatures high enough to cause certain minerals to melt, but not all of them. Partial melting is an important part of the formation of all igneous rocks and some metamorphic rocks (e.g., migmatites), as evidenced by a multitude of geochemical, geophysical and petrological studies.
The formation of pull-apart basins along strike-slip faults causes decompression melting. Advection of melts and heat flux into the lower crust results in partial melting of crustal rock. [16] The buoyant magma rises due to its lower density and is able to exploit weaknesses such as fault planes, using strike-slips as conduits for motion. [4]
Decompression melting occurs because of a decrease in pressure. [40] The solidus temperatures of most rocks (the temperatures below which they are completely solid) increase with increasing pressure in the absence of water. Peridotite at depth in the Earth's mantle may be hotter than its solidus temperature at some shallower level.
Decompression melting in upwelling asthenosphere likely begins at a depth as great as 100 to 150 kilometers (60 to 90 mi), where the small amounts of volatiles in the mantle rock (about 100 ppm of water and 60 ppm of carbon dioxide) assist in melting not more than about 0.1% of the rock. At a depth of about 70 kilometers (40 mi), dry melting ...
Decompression melting occurs because of a decrease in pressure. [66] It is the most important mechanism for producing magma from the upper mantle. [67] The solidus temperatures of most rocks (the temperatures below which they are completely solid) increase with increasing pressure in the absence of water.
Mantle plume. A superplume generated by cooling processes in the mantle (LVZ = low-velocity zone) [1] A mantle plume is a proposed mechanism of convection within the Earth's mantle, hypothesized to explain anomalous volcanism. [2] Because the plume head partially melts on reaching shallow depths, a plume is often invoked as the cause of ...
When a plume head encounters the base of the lithosphere, it is expected to flatten out against this barrier and to undergo widespread decompression melting to form large volumes of basalt magma. It may then erupt onto the surface. Numerical modelling predicts that melting and eruption will take place over several million years. [12]
The Pressure-Temperature-time path (P-T-t path) is a record of the pressure and temperature (P-T) conditions that a rock experienced in a metamorphic cycle from burial and heating to uplift and exhumation to the surface. [1] Metamorphism is a dynamic process which involves the changes in minerals and textures of the pre-existing rocks ...