633 research outputs found

    Bubble formation and decrepitation control the CO2 content of olivine-hosted melt inclusions

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    Author Posting. Ā© American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 18 (2017): 597ā€“616, doi:10.1002/2016GC006633.The CO2 contents of olivine-hosted melt inclusions have previously been used to constrain the depth of magma chambers in basaltic systems. However, the vast majority of inclusions have CO2 contents which imply entrapment pressures that are significantly lower than those obtained from independent petrological barometers. Furthermore, a global database of melt inclusion compositions from low inline image settings, indicates that the distribution of saturation pressures varies surprisingly little between mid-ocean ridges, ocean islands, and continental rift zones. 95% of the inclusions in the database have saturation pressures of 200 MPa or less, indicating that melt inclusion CO2 does not generally provide an accurate estimate of magma chamber depths. A model of the P-V-T-X evolution of olivine-hosted melt inclusions was developed so that the properties of the inclusion system could be tracked as the hosts follow a model P-T path. The models indicate that the principal control on the saturation of CO2 in the inclusion and the formation of vapor bubbles is the effect of postentrapment crystallization on the major element composition of the inclusions and how this translates into variation in CO2 solubility. The pressure difference between external melt and the inclusion is likely to be sufficiently high to cause decrepitation of inclusions in most settings. Decrepitation can account for the apparent mismatch between CO2-based barometry and other petrological barometers, and can also account for the observed global distribution of saturation pressures. Only when substantial postentrapment crystallization occurs can reconstructed inclusion compositions provide an accurate estimate of magma chamber depth.Natural Environment Research Council Grant Number: (NE/I012508/1)2017-08-1

    Preparation of an employee handbook

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    Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

    Crystallographic studies of some cycloamylose complexes

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    The curious case of an internal pilot in a multicentre randomised trial-time for a rethink?

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    Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge helpful discussions on this topic held with various colleagues in connection with a variety of projects. Funding No funding was received for this work.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    Rate of Melt Ascent beneath Iceland from the Magmatic Response to Deglaciation

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    Observations of the time lag between the last deglaciation and a surge in volcanic activity in Iceland constrain the average melt ascent velocity to be ā‰„50\geq50 m/yr\mathrm{m/yr}. Although existing theoretical work has explained why the surge in eruption rates increased 55-3030 fold from the steady-state rates during the last deglaciation, they cannot account for large variations of Rare Earth Element (REE) concentrations in the Icelandic lavas. Lavas erupted during the last deglaciation are depleted in REEs by up to 70%70\%; whereas, existing models, which assume instantaneous melt transport, can only produce at most 20%20\% depletion. Here, we develop a numerical model with finite melt ascent velocity and show that the variations of REEs are strongly dependent on the melt ascent velocity. When the average melt ascent velocity is 100100 m/yr\mathrm{m/yr}, the variation of La\mathrm{La} calculated by our model is comparable to that of the observations. In contrast, when the melt ascent velocity is 1,0001,000 m/yr\mathrm{m/yr} or above, the model variation of La\mathrm{La} becomes significantly lower than observed, which explains why previous models with instantaneous melt transport did not reproduce the large variations. We provide the first model that takes account of the diachronous response of volcanism to deglaciation. We show by comparing our model calculations of the relative volumes of different eruption types (subglacial, finiglacial and postglacial) and the timing of the bursts in volcanic eruptions with the observations across different volcanic zones that the Icelandic average melt ascent velocity during the last deglaciation is likely to be āˆ¼100\sim100 m/yr\mathrm{m/yr}

    Quantifying lithological variability in the mantle

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    We present a method that can be used to estimate the amount of recycled material present in the source region of mid-ocean ridge basalts by combining three key constraints: (1) the melting behaviour of the lithologies identified to be present in a mantle source, (2) the overall volume of melt production, and (3) the proportion of melt production attributable to melting of each lithology. These constraints are unified in a three-lithology melting model containing lherzolite, pyroxenite and harzburgite, representative products of mantle differentiation, to quantify their abundance in igneous source regions. As a case study we apply this method to Iceland, a location with sufficient geochemical and geophysical data to meet the required observational constraints. We find that to generate the 20 km of igneous crustal thickness at Iceland's coasts, with 30Ā±10%30Ā±10% of the crust produced from melting a pyroxenitic lithology, requires an excess mantle potential temperature (Ī”Tp) of ā©¾130ā€‰Ā°C (View the MathML sourceTpā©¾1460Ā°C) and a source consisting of at least 5% recycled basalt. Therefore, the mantle beneath Iceland requires a significant excess temperature to match geophysical and geochemical observations: lithological variation alone cannot account for the high crustal thickness. Determining a unique source solution is only possible if mantle potential temperature is known precisely and independently, otherwise a family of possible lithology mixtures is obtained across the range of viable Ī”Tp. For Iceland this uncertainty in Ī”Tp means that the mantle could be >20% harzburgitic if View the MathML sourceĪ”Tp>150Ā°C (View the MathML sourceTp>1480Ā°C). The consequences of lithological heterogeneity for plume dynamics in various geological contexts are also explored through thermodynamic modelling of the densities of lherzolite, basalt, and harzburgite mixtures in the mantle. All lithology solutions for Iceland are buoyant in the shallow mantle at the Ī”Tp for which they are valid, however only lithology mixtures incorporating a significant harzburgite component are able to reproduce recent estimates of the Iceland plume's volume flux. Using the literature estimates of the amount of recycled basalt in the sources of Hawaiian and Siberian volcanism, we found that they are negatively buoyant in the upper mantle, even at the extremes of their expected Ī”Tp. One solution to this problem is that low density refractory harzburgite is a more ubiquitous component in mantle plumes than previously acknowledged

    A Statistical description of concurrent mixing and crystallisation during MORB diļ¬€erentiation: Implications for trace element enrichment

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    The pattern of trace element enrichment and variability found in diļ¬€erentiated suites of basalts is a sim- ple observable, which nonetheless records a wealth of information on processes occurring from the mantle to crustal magma chambers. The incompatible element contents of some mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) sample suites show progressive enrichment beyond the predictions of simple models of fractional crystalli- sation of a single primary melt. Explanations for this over-enrichment have focused on the diļ¬€erentiation processes in crustal magma chambers. In this paper we consider an additional mechanism, and focus instead on the deviation from simple fractionation trends that is possible by mixing of diverse mantle-derived melts supplied to magma chambers. A primary observation motivating this strategy is that there is signiļ¬cant chemical diversity in primitive high MgO basalts, which single liquid parent models cannot match. Models were developed to simulate the compositional eļ¬€ects of concurrent mixing and crystallisation (CMC): diverse parental melts were allowed to mix, with a likelihood that is proportional to the extent of fractional crys- tallisation. Using a simple statistical model to explore the eļ¬€ects of concurrent mixing and crystallisation on apparent liquid lines of descent, we show how signiļ¬cant departure from Rayleigh fractionation is possible as a function of the diversity of trace elements in the incoming melts, their primary MgO, and the relative proportion of enriched to depleted melts. The model was used to make predictions of gradients of trace element enrichment in log[trace element]ā€“ MgO space. These predictions were compared with observations from a compilation of global MORB and provide a test of the applicability of CMC to natural systems. We ļ¬nd that by considering the trace element variability of primitive MORB, its MgO content and degree of enrichment, CMC accurately predicts the pattern of trace element over-enrichment seen in global MORB. Importantly, this model shows that the relationship between over-enrichment and incompatibility can derive from mantle processes: the fact that during mantle melting maximum variability is generated in those elements with the smallest bulk K d . Magma chamber processes are therefore ļ¬ltering the signal of mantle-derived chemical diversity to produce trace element over-enrichment during diļ¬€erentiation. Finally, we interrogate the global MORB dataset for evidence that trace element over-enrichment varies as a function of melt supply. There is no correlation between over-enrichment and melt supply in the global dataset. Trace element over-enrichment occurs at slow-spreading ridges where extensive steady-state axial magma chambers, the most likely environment for repeated episodes of replenishment, tapping and crystallisation, are very rarely detected. This supports a model whereby trace element over-enrichment is an inevitable consequence of chemically heterogeneous melts delivered from the mantle, a process that may operate across all rates of melt supply
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