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In essence, fractional crystallization is the removal of early formed crystals from an originally homogeneous magma (for example, by gravity settling) so that these crystals are prevented from further reaction with the residual melt. [3] The composition of the remaining melt becomes relatively depleted in some components and enriched in others ...
These rocks are fine-grained and sometimes cool so rapidly that no crystals can form and result in a natural glass, such as obsidian, however the most common fine-grained rock would be known as basalt. Any of the three main types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks) can melt into magma and cool into igneous rocks. [2]
Oceanic magmas likely result from partial melting of 3% to 15% of the source rock. [81] Some calk-alkaline granitoids may be produced by a high degree of partial melting, as much as 15% to 30%. [82] High-magnesium magmas, such as komatiite and picrite, may also be the products of a high degree of partial melting of mantle rock. [83]
Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. [10]: 591–599 Igneous rocks are divided into two main categories: Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earth's crust.
While cooling, the magma evolves in composition because different minerals crystallize from the melt. 1: olivine crystallizes; 2: olivine and pyroxene crystallize; 3: pyroxene and plagioclase crystallize; 4: plagioclase crystallizes. At the bottom of the magma reservoir, a cumulate rock forms.
Within the field of geology, Bowen's reaction series is the work of the Canadian petrologist Norman L. Bowen, [1] who summarized, based on experiments and observations of natural rocks, the sequence of crystallization of common silicate minerals from typical basaltic magma undergoing fractional crystallization (i.e. crystallization wherein early-formed crystals are removed from the magma by ...
For instance, a magma of gabbroic composition can produce a residual melt of granitic composition if early formed crystals are separated from the magma. Gabbro may have a liquidus temperature near 1,200 °C, and the derivative granite-composition melt may have a liquidus temperature as low as about 700 °C.
The melt is made up of various components of pre-existing rocks which have been subjected to melting either at subduction zones or within the Earth's mantle. The melt is hot and so passes upward through cooler country rock. As it moves, it cools and various rock types will form through a process known as fractional crystallisation.