the influence of melting and melt drainage on crustal rheology during orogenesis partial melting significantly weakens crustal rocks by introducing a low viscosity liquid phase however near concomitant melt drainage can remove this weak phase potentially reversing the rheological effects such that the strength of a specific lithology depends on when the prograde pressure temperature path intersects a melting reaction how much melt is produced and how long this melt is retained before it is lost phase equilibria and mixed rheology modeling of typical metapelite and metagreywacke compositions indicate that these rocks undergo continuous but pulsed melt production during prograde metamorphism depending on whether melt removal is continuous or episodic and assuming geological strain rates the lithologies can retain a very low strength less than 1 mpa or transiently strengthen to 5 mpa following melt loss lithologies undergoing episodic melt loss can therefore cycle between being relatively weak and relatively strong components within a composite crustal section melt production retention and weakening in the middle to lower crust as a whole is more sustained during heating and melt production consistent with geodynamic inferences of weak melt bearing lower crust however the long term consequence of melting and melt loss is a 50 400 increase in the strength of residual lithologies the strengthening is more pronounced in metapelite than metagreywacke and is achieved through a combination of dehydration and the removal of the weak mica framework coupled to increased proportions of strong feldspars and garnet despite prolonged weakness melting and melt loss therefore ultimately result in a dry and elastic lower crust

rheological transitions in progressive melting of rock and their geological constraints from the fuhu metatexite diatexite profile in guangdong province se china abstract integration of the published experimental data of partially melted amphibolite orthogneiss granite and aplite reveals the existence of three rapid strength drops of the rock assemblage at melt fraction around 7 21 and 41 respectively the first and the last drops are equivalent to the well known melt connectivity transition mct and solid to liquid transition slt the drop at melt fraction around 21 is newly identified and termed as the framework melting transition fmt the fmt is defined as the transition from eutectic quartz feldspars melting to refractory biotite melting the three rheological transitions are well constrained by the geological data from the fuhu profile in guangdong province se china this profile is a 15 m high cliff rocks exposed on the profile are zoned as mottled stripped narrow banded and wide banded migmatites and diatexitic granite from the top of the profile downwards the leucosome proportions of the zones measured on the outcrops combined with the experimental data of the partially melted rocks have significant implications for understanding the role of rheological transitions during crustal melting the mct which corresponds to the boundary between the mottled and the narrow banded migmatites suggests the segregation of melt within the partially melted system along with the compaction of matrix thus the mct is deemed to be the transition of the partially melted system from matrix supported melt stored in pore space to framework supported melt stored in foliation bedding space of protolith the fmt corresponding to the boundary between the narrow and the wide banded migmatites denotes the inception of melting of the solid framework mechanically the fmt can be regarded as the transition of the framework from compaction to fusion and geochemically the transition from eutectic melting of quartz feldspars to that of refractory biotite the increasing melt due to framework melting after the fmt is basically limited within the solid framework until the melt fraction exceeding the slt the slt is geologically constrained by the in situ metatexite diatexite transition that is also termed as magma interface mi the slt mi represents the upper limit of a crustal magma layer because of the downward increasing temperature and melt fraction there should be no consecutive layer of felsic rock existed in the space between the slt mi and the mafic lower crust except the isolated rock blocks within the magma layer

a sequence of partial melting reactions at mt stafford central australia metasedimentary gneisses show a rapid change in grade in a 10 km wide low p high t regional aureole at mt stafford in the arunta block central australia migmatite occurs in all but the lowermost of five metamorphic zones which grade from greenschist zone 1 through amphibolite zones 2 3 to granulite facies zones 4 5 the sequence of partial melting reactions inferred for metapelitic rocks is dependant upon protolith temperature and fluid conditions the metapelite solidus in zone 2 reflects vapour present melting at p 3 kbar and t 640 c melting having initially been controlled by the congruent breakdown of the assemblage crd kfs bt qtz at slightly higher temperature andalusite in leucosome formed via the reaction kfs qtz bt h2oand melt and melt having been stabilized by the presence of boron sillimanite coaxially replaces andalusite in the high grade portion of zone 2 in zone 3 large aluminosilicate aggregates in leucosome are armoured by spl crd grt symplectites garnet partially pseudomorphs biotite cordierite or spinel in high grade portions of zone 3 zone 4 grt crd opx bearing metapsammite assemblages and garnet bearing leucosome reflect t 800 c and p 2 2 0 9 kbar in the model kfmash system the principal vapour absent melting step reflected significant modal changes related to the breakdown of the as bt tie line and the establishment of the spl crd tie line the bulk rock geochemistry of migmatite samples straddle the spl crd tie line the aluminous bulk rock composition of the common bedded migmatite restricted its potential to witness garnet forming and orthopyroxene forming reactions minor textural and modal changes in and above zone 3 reflecting biotite destablization in biotite poor assemblages

experimental deformation of partially molten westerly granite under fluid absent conditions with implications for the extraction of granitic magmas the mechanical behavior of partially molten westerly granite was investigated in the temperature range 800 1100 c 250 mpa confining pressure by means of constant strain rate creep and stress relaxation tests the only water in the samples came from the breakdown of hydrous phases biotite minor chlorite and muscovite and alteration products of feldspars thus the amount of melt was controlled by the test temperature and ranged from 3 at 800 c to 50 at 1100 c over that temperature range strength decreased from 500 mpa to less than 1 mpa and a preliminary constitutive flow law for the partially molten rock was obtained to allow extrapolation to low strain rates the comparative viscosity of the melt alone was estimated at 950 and 1000 c from the distance it could be made to penetrate into a porous sand under a known pressure gradient under all conditions deformation of the matrix of solid grains was by brittle fracture only samples containing up to 10 vol melt failed with the formation of a shear fault zone at higher melt fractions melt filled pores collapsed by shear enhanced compaction squeezing the melt into axial cracks above 40 vol melt unfractured solid grains were carried about passively in the flowing liquid there was no evidence of a rheologically critical melt percentage in this system by analogy with the uniaxial compaction of water saturated soils a simple model is erected to describe a two stage process for the extraction of granitic melts from their protoliths with the aid of nonhydrostatic stress shear enhanced compaction is inferred to drive melt into a network of melt filled veins whereupon porous flow through the high permeability vein network allows rapid drainage of melt to higher crustal levels

strain partitioning during partial melting and crystallizing felsic magmas abstract the rheology of partly molten felsic systems changes dramatically during the onset of melting and through crystallization solid to liquid and liquid to solid transitions are not rheologically identical contradicting the concept of a unique rheological critical melt percentage we use four thresholds separating the successive stages according to the melt fraction for the melting transition 1 the liquid percolation threshold connects the melt pockets at about 8 of melt thus allowing local magma displacement at the metric scale and 2 for greater melt percentages 20 25 a melt escape threshold corresponds to the onset of transport over large distances of the melt and part of the residual solid phase leading ultimately to granitic bodies for the solidification transition 3 the first formation of a rigid framework of crystals which can accumulate stress although the melt can still flow corresponds to the rigid percolation threshold 55 solids and 4 the system becomes totally locked at about 72 75 solid which corresponds to the particle locking threshold the present paper focuses on strain partitioning induced by the coexistence of two contrasting rheological phases between these thresholds on a variety of scales non coaxial deformation is preferentially accommodated by the lower viscosity melt which increases the vorticity in the melt phase and reinforces asymmetries in the flow pattern strain partitioning also increases the scale length of the weakest phase during melting and magma ascent whereas strain partitioning decreases the scale length during crystallizing strain partitioning also affects the migration of melt by raising the particle locking threshold and lowering the melt escape threshold for three dimensional deformations such as transpression the direction of melt segregation e g horizontal may differ from the direction of melt migration e g vertical

an experimental deformation study of partially molten amphibolite application to low melt fraction segregation an amphibolite has been experimentally deformed under subsolidus and partially molten conditions to evaluate the influence of melt on the mechanical behavior of a natural mafic rock and to assess low melt fraction segregation processes experiments were performed under fluid absent conditions at 1 8 gpa between temperatures of 650 c and 1000 c these conditions are similar to those of thickened lower continental crust or intermediate depths in subducting oceanic lithosphere at 850 c melt is granitoid in composition and its viscosity is that of wet granite 103 105 pa s the results can be summarized as follows 1 under subsolidus conditions tests at 650 c and 750 c the amphibolite is macroscopically ductile and deformation is homogeneously distributed throughout the sample 2 at near solidus conditions 800 c 0 5 vol melt fractures 1 10 m in width displace hornblende and plagioclase grains and melt formed in situ is found in some of these cracks the formation of a ductile shear zone in one sample is attributed to the presence of very fine grained reaction products from combined dehydration hydration reactions that involve plagioclase the dehydration reaction products have apparently changed the deformation mechanism and even overrode the melt embrittlement process trapping melt in pockets of lower strain with higher melt fractions 10 15 vol broad melt bearing shear zones form and grains within these zones are brittlely deformed 3 at 20 vol melt 1000 c additional weakening occurs but fractures are not observed and the overall deformation is by viscous flow the results show that at low melt fractions 15 vol fluid absent melting reactions can induce fracture in previously ductile rocks this suggests that the percentage at which melt may escape by fracture is lower than the theoretical critical melt fraction or cmf of 26 40 vol in general estimating the fraction of melt at the onset of segregation cannot be predicted by the cmf melt segregation models have to be adapted to variations in such major factors as pressure temperature type of melting reaction rate of melting and strain rate such models will greatly assist our understanding of continental growth and evolution during orogenesis

climatic implications of the variable obliquity explanation of cretaceous paleogene high latitude floras the record of high latitude cretaceous paleogene floras has been interpreted as indicative of warmth and climatic equability and has also been the basis for arguments of reduced obliquity climate model simulations suggest that a reduced obliquity will result in a substantial polar cooling that is incompatible with the interpretation for polar warmth paleobiologic adaptations to low light levels may be an alternative to a variable obliquity

an interpretation of cretaceous and tertiary biota in polar regions abstract rich fossil floras and vertebrate faunas lived within the arctic and atarctic circles during the cretaceous and paleogene these occurrences seem explicable by the nature of the thermal environments in polar regions and by the physiological responses of plants and animals allied to those that lived there there seems no need to invoke a lower tilt to the earth s axis to provide greater warmth and light in polar regions to account for these fossil records

cretaceous climate a comparison of atmospheric simulations with the geologic record abstract atmospheric simulations using realistic cretaceous geography 100 million years ago suggest that paleography is an important factor governing the nature of the circulation the simulated cretaceous atmospheric circulations are markedly different both from the present day atmospheric circulation and from the classical hypotheses of a weaker circulation and poleward displacement of circulation features e g the subtropical high therefore they pose specific questions which can be tested against the geologic record aspects of the cretaceous simulations are verified in comparisons with the geologic record the simulations serve to guide areas of future paleoclimatic research and to formulate better the nature of the problem of warm equable climates

an experimental study of grain scale melt segregation mechanisms in two common crustal rock types creation of pathways for melt to migrate from its source is the necessary first step for transport of magma to the upper crust to test the role of different dehydration melting reactions in the development of permeability during partial melting and deformation in the crust we experimentally deformed two common crustal rock types a muscovite biotite metapelite and a biotite gneiss were deformed at conditions below at and above their fluid absent solidus for the metapelite temperatures ranged between 650 and 800 c at pc 700 mpa to investigate the muscovite dehydration melting reaction for the biotite gneiss temperatures ranged between 850 and 950 c at pc 1000 mpa to explore biotite dehydration melting under lower crustal conditions deformation for both sets of experiments was performed at the same strain rate e 1 37 10 5 s 1 in the presence of deformation the positive v and associated high dilational strain of the muscovite dehydration melting reaction produces an increase in melt pore pressure with partial melting of the metapelite in contrast the biotite dehydration melting reaction is not associated with a large dilational strain and during deformation and partial melting of the biotite gneiss melt pore pressure builds more gradually due to the different rates in pore pressure increase melt enhanced deformation microstructures reflect the different dehydration melting reactions themselves permeability development in the two rocks differs because grain boundaries control melt distribution to a greater extent in the gneiss muscovite dehydration melting may develop melt pathways at low melt fractions due to a larger volume of melt in comparison with biotite dehydration melting generated at the solidus this may be a viable physical mechanism in which rapid melt segregation from a metapelitic source rock can occur alternatively the results from the gneiss experiments suggest continual draining of biotite derived magma from the lower crust with melt migration paths controlled by structural anisotropies in the protolith

the inception and growth of leucosomes microstructure at the start of melt segregation in migmatites the beginning stages of melt segregation and the formation of leucosomes are rarely preserved in migmatites most arrays of leucosomes record a more advanced stage where flow dominates over segregation however the early stages in the formation of leucosomes and the segregation of melt are preserved in a partially melted meta argillite from the metatexite zone 800 c of the contact aureole around the duluth complex minnesota the rock contains 2 4 modal leucosome in a matrix consisting of 40 5 in situ neosome and 57 1 cordierite plagioclase framework the domainal microstructure in the matrix is a pre anatectic feature resulting from the bulk composition terminal chlorite reactions produced a large volume of cordierite which with plagioclase formed a framework that enclosed patches of biotite quartz plagioclase k feldspar upon melting these fertile domains became patches of in situ neosome plagioclase in the neosome is less sodic than in the leucosome hence segregation of melt occurred during crystallization not melting segregation was delayed because the cordierite plagioclase framework was strong enough to resist dilatation and compaction until after crystallization started the leucosomes are small i e they are microleucosomes and display a systematic progression in morphology as length and aspect ratio increase from 1 to 19 mm and from 2 5 to 30 respectively small equant micropores form first and in places these coalesce into small 1 mm aspect ratio 2 5 isolated blunt ended elliptical microleucosomes in the next stage micropores develop ahead of and at 45 to the left and right of the blunt tip of a microleucosome one of these develops into an elliptical leucosome and an en echelon array of either a left or right stepping elliptical microleucosome forms each elliptical microleucosome in the en echelon arrays is separated by a bridge of matrix next microleucosomes of greater length 4 mm and aspect ratio 5 form when the bridges of cordierite plagioclase matrix rupture and the elliptical microleucosomes link together to form a zigzag shaped microleucosome finally still longer microleucosomes with greater aspect ratios 30 are formed by the joining of zigzag arrays such a progression is characteristic of the way ductile fractures grow the segregation of melt was driven by the pressure gradient between the dilatant fracture and an adjacent in situ neosome which drew melt to the growing fracture thereby creating a microleucosome the microleucosomes are filled arrays of ductile fractures melt was contiguous only between microleucosomes and adjacent patches of in situ neosome the length scale of segregation was 5 mm the size of a typical patch of in situ neosome and restricted by the surrounding impermeable cordierite plagioclase framework the melt in the microleucosome was the most fractionated and the last to crystallize all microleucosomes contain entrained minerals as a consequence of their mechanism of growth rupture of the bridges resulted in the entrainment of pre anatectic phases however microleucosomes that cross patches of in situ neosome are also contaminated with peritectic phases that were transported with the melt

on the rheologically critical melt fraction abstract with increasing melt fraction the strength of partially molten granite decreases from a value characteristic of solid competent rock to a value nearly equal to that of the melt previously published mechanical and microstructural data indicate that deformation in partially molten rocks often involves brittle processes thus the pressure in the melt is expected to be important in determining strength when the volume changes during deformation strength and fluid flow will be coupled by such parameters as permeability k storage capacity per unit volume or storativity s melt compressibility f grain size d fluid viscosity and strain rate experiments on brittle rock at low temperatures show that the strain rate at which the internal fluid pressure can be maintained constant is approximately proportional to k s an evaluation of published experimental data suggests that this relation also holds for partially molten granites indicating that the strength of these rocks depends on their transport properties since the permeability is related to below a critical melt fraction rcmf the melt pressure will change if deformation is not iso volumetric by assuming a power law relationship between k and we estimate that rcmf f d m 1 n 1 where m and n relate permeability to grain size and respectively

biogenic structures in modern slope to deep sea sediments in the sulu sea basin philippines abstract slowly accumulated slope and rise sediments 5 20 cm 1000 yr are totally bioturbated as compared to only 10 30 in rapidly deposited abyssal plain sediments 100 200 cm 1000 yr in contrast to a decrease in degree of bioturbation biogenic trace diversity increases with water depth all ichnocoenoses are clearly influenced by the low oxygen content of the bottom water caused by minimal circulation and restricted water exchange oxygen deficiency and relatively high sedimentation rates have created nutrient rich sediments thus there is no need for optimal fractionation into individual ecological niches and behavioral programs are not highly developed 1 in slope and rise sediments animal traces are associated with biodeformational structures 2 in slope to abyssal plain sediments trace assemblages are dominated by burrows with open tubes for circulation of respiration water 3 in abyssal plain sediments small diameter biogenic traces common in turbidite sequences graphoglyptids e g paleodictyon are absent this may be due to rapid sedimentation leading to inefficiency of graphoglyptid behavior where graphoglyptids are lacking ichnocoenoses are dominated by forms like phycosiphon in slope and rise sediments graphoglyptids may have been destroyed by deeper burrowing organisms

a site effect study in acapulco guerrero mexico comparison of results from strong motion and microtremor data abstract the city of acapulco is located near or above the mature seismic gap of guerrero along the mexican subduction zone with the purpose of studying the character of strong ground motion on soft sites four digital accelerographs have been installed in the city on such sites these instruments have been in operation since 1988 two additional instruments part of the guerrero accelerograph array are located on hard sites in the area one of these vnta has been in operation since 1985 and the other acan since 1989 these stations have recorded several earthquakes we use data from eight events 4 2 m 6 9 to study spectral amplification of seismic waves at the soft sites with respect to vnta the s waves are amplified by a factor of 6 to 25 at the soft sites in a fairly broad range of frequencies both the amplification and the frequency band over which it occurs depend upon the site although the largest earthquake in our data set m 6 9 gave rise to a peak horizontal acceleration exceeding 0 3 g at one of the soft sites no clear evidence of nonlinear behavior of the subsoil is found spectral amplifications of s wave coda are very similar to those of s waves we also measured microtremors at the strong motion sites the microtremor spectra were interpreted using reasonable assumptions to test the feasibility of this technique in reproducing the spectral amplifications observed during earthquakes our results show that only a rough estimate of site response can be obtained from this technique at least in acapulco caution is warranted in its use elsewhere

rheological transitions and the progress of melting of crustal rocks abstract high grade igneous and metamorphic systems which possess a variable percentage of melt may undergo a transition between crystal supported and fully fluid behavior the melt fraction interval over which this transition occurs is not well constrained we have conducted six series of numerical simulations of crustal melting using melt fraction intervals between 0 05 to 0 15 for this mechanical transition the results of these simulations demonstrate the dependence of convection and progress of melting on the rheological transition between solid and melt convective heat flux varied by a factor of 8 over the duration of the simulations 160 yr and the mass of melt produced varied by nearly a factor of 4 the onset of convection in simulations with the most gradual rheological transition was suppressed convective heat flux and progress of melting were more sensitive to the melt fraction interval for the rheological transition than to the composition of a range of crustal protoliths the rheological transition between solid and melt may be one of the dominant factors controlling the thermal evolution of high grade crustal rocks

some comments on the rheologically critical melt percentage abstract the concept of rheologically critical melt percentage rcmp originally proposed by arzi tectonophysics 44 1978 173 184 for partially molten granitic rocks is re examined it is shown that there is no experimental support to show the presence of rcmp the published experimental data suggest that the effective viscosity of partially molten granitic rocks is reduced rapidly and continuously with increasing melt fraction it is also shown that the experimental data may be modeled by means of the upper bound behavior the voigt bound of two phase material by assuming a melt localization which implies that there is no partitioning of strain between the solid and the melt

southern polar forests the early cretaceous floras of victoria and their palaeoclimatic significance abstract a diverse fossil flora including cryptogams pteridosperms cycadales bennettitales ginkgoales coniferales and angiosperms occurs in early cretaceous fluvial and lacustrine strata in the otway and gippsland basins in southern victoria both evergreens e g araucarians cycads ferns and deciduous or semi deciduous forms e g certain pteridosperms and ginkgoales seem to have been represented certain ferns ginkgos and conifers grew to a large size overall the assemblages are typical of early cretaceous floras the associated fauna includes dinosaurs hypsilophodontids allosaurs lepidosaurs chelonians birds fish including the lungfish ceratodus and insects the evidence of the biota as a whole suggests a warm to cool temperate relatively equable climate of moderate seasonality with no widespread winter freezing the complex mesozoic apparent polar wander path apw indicated for australia places victoria in high to polar palaeolatitudes ca 70 85 s during the early cretaceous this apw path is supported by paths for other gondwana continents the existence of the victorian early cretaceous forest and biotic communities through polar nights of about two to five months duration is difficult to accept evergreen species would have required relative equability of light whatever the temperature the dinosaurs foliage throughout the year and the lungfish warm to temperate conditions without freezing in view of the consistency of mesozoic palaeomagnetic results for gondwanaland and the enigmatic presence of mesozoic and early cenozoic fossil floras and faunas in very high northern palaeolatitudes the possibility of a reduced obliquity of the ecliptic in mesozoic early cenozoic time should be considered

melt segregation and matrix compaction the mush continuity equation compaction segregation time implications summary two phase aggregates a special case of which is partially molten systems are commonly modelled as an interpenetrating flow of two viscous liquids and are therefore described in terms of the fluid mechanics the governing equation set of fluid mechanics describing a two phase aggregate is incomplete as it consists of nine equations momentum and mass conservation equations for each phase and an energy conservation equation in ten unknowns six velocity components two pressures temperature and melt fraction in this paper the general equation closing the governing equation set is derived it explicitly expresses the condition of the coupling between the liquid percolation and porosity volume change due to which the medium continuity is maintained therefore the equation may be referred to as the mush continuity equation the character of the closed set solutions is demonstrated using 1 d isothermal models by examples of melt segregation inside a bounded low melting degree zone and sediment compaction at the bottom of a reservoir the compaction segregation style and time are controlled by the compaction segregation parameter c l c 2 and compaction segregation length depending on the mushy layer thickness l matrix permeability k characteristic porosity 0 and matrix and fluid viscosities at low c which approximately corresponds to low viscosity liquids kimberlites carbonatites the compaction segregation time scales as l 1 which effectively constrains the molten region thickness at the moment of the segregation and appears to explain the small volume and clustering of low viscosity magma eruptions characteristic of kimberlites at high c the porosity evolves through a formation of a series of isolated waves which could provide an explanation for the rhythmicity observed in large layered plutons

a warm equable cretaceous the nature of the problem abstract the nature of the problem of warm equable paleoclimates is defined by investigating the mid cretaceous period the problem consists of three components 1 defining precisely the climatic state during any specified interval of geologic time 2 specifying the external climatic forcing factors which may have been important and 3 understanding the climatic response to any specific modifying influence these components are characterized by limitations of critical importance in understanding paleoclimates the nature of the problem of a warm cretaceous is defined both qualitatively and quantitatively within these limits

a review of tertiary climate changes in southern south america and the antarctic peninsula part 2 continental conditions abstract climate changes in southern south america and the antarctic peninsula during the tertiary show a strong correlation with ocean warming and cooling events which are in turn related to tectonic processes during periods of accelerated sea floor spreading and mid ocean ridge activity sea levels rose so that parts of the continents were flooded and forests were destroyed however this was balanced by the large scale release of co2 during volcanic outgassing and carbonate precipitation on the continental shelves which caused rising air temperatures and the poleward expansion of sub tropical and temperate forests cooling episodes generally caused an increase in the north south thermal gradient because of an equatorward shift in climate belts so that the westerly winds intensified and brought higher rainfall to the lower latitudes an increase in wind blown dust caused temperatures to drop further by reflecting sunlight back into space the rising andes range had a marked influence on climate patterns up to the middle miocene it was still low enough to allow summer rainfall to reach central and north central chile but after about 14 ma it rose rapidly and effectively blocked the spill over of moisture from the atlantic ocean and amazon basin at this time the cold humboldt current was also established which together with the andes helped to create the arid diagonal of southern south america stretching from the atacama desert to the dry steppes of patagonia this caused the withdrawal of subtropical forests to south central chile and the expansion of sclerophytic vegetation to central chile however at the same time it intercepted more rain from the northeast causing the effect of the south american monsoon to intensify in northwestern argentina and southern bolivia where forest communities presently occur in patagonia glaciation started as early as 10 5 ma but by 7 ma had become a prominent feature of the landscape and continued apparently uninterruptedly into the pleistocene the antarctic peninsula saw its first mountain glaciation between 45 and 41 ma with major ice sheet expansion commencing at about 34 ma isolated stands of nothofagus forests were still present in low lying areas suggesting that the glaciers were initially wet based but dry based glaciers were established at around 8 ma although temperatures rose briefly during the messinian pliocene transition causing sub antarctic flora to retreat to higher elevations of the transantarctic mountains the present cold polar conditions were finally established by about 3 ma

flow of synthetic wet partially molten granite under undrained conditions an experimental study 1 major problems in experimental studies of the flow of partially molten granitic rocks are 1 maintaining control of the grain size of the matrix of solid grains 2 controlling the melt fraction and 3 controlling the melt viscosity closely linked to water content to overcome these problems we used a synthetic granitoid comprising a solid matrix of quartz grains 50 m grain size mixed with an albite quartz melt prepared from oxides with added water 2 5 wt dissolved in the melt phase viscosity 9 104 pa s experiments were performed undrained with melt fractions of 0 1 0 2 0 25 and 0 3 constant strain rate creep and stress relaxation experiments were carried out in a gas medium apparatus at 1273 and 1173 k mostly at 300 mpa confining pressure up to 15 shortening strain strain rates ranged between 10 4 to less than 10 7 s 1 and fully ductile mechanical behavior was observed melt fraction has a more profound effect on strength than water content temperature or total confining pressure low strain rate 10 6 s 1 data were fitted to an empirical flow law of the form d dt a exp b m exp h rt n with the parameters loga 1 39 m 3 n 1 8 b 192 h 220 kjmol 1 where d dt is strain rate s 1 is flow stress mpa is melt fraction and t is temperature k strength is expected to fall rapidly above about 0 4 melt fraction to levels characteristic of flow of the melt containing suspended crystallites extrapolation to geological strain rates using this flow law shows that in nature migmatites bearing granitic melt will be extremely weak much weaker than silicate rocks deforming by intracrystalline plasticity microstructural study shows grains remain equant at all strains with no discernable formation of a grain flattening fabric nor a large strain contribution from microfracturing thus bulk intracrystalline plasticity is of minor importance and intergranular sliding is implied the nonlinear flow observed is tentatively attributed to a combination of sintering of grain contacts and sliding failure of such contacts with a substantial contribution from diffusive transfer processes

experimental deformation of partially melted granitic aggregates abstract the effects of varying amounts of partial melt on the deformation of granitic aggregates have been tested experimentally at conditions 900 c 1500 mpa 10 4 to 10 6 s where melt free samples deform by dislocation creep with microstructures approximately equivalent to those of upper greenschist facies experiments were performed on samples of various grain sizes including an aplite 150 m and sintered aggregates of quartz albitemicrocline 10 50 and 2 10 m water was added to the samples to obtain various amounts of melt 1 15 in the aplite 1 5 in the sintered aggregates optical and tem observations of the melt distribution in hydrostatically annealed samples show that the melt in the sintered aggregates is homogeneously distributed along an interconnected network of triple junction channels while the melt in the aplites is inhomogeneously distributed the effect of partial melt on deformation depends an melt amount and distribution grain size and strain rate for samples deformed with 1 melt all grain sizes exhibit microstructures indicative of dislocation creep for samples deformed with 3 5 melt the 150 m and 10 50 m grain size samples also exhibit dislocation creep microstructures but the 2 10 m grain size samples exhibit abundant tem scale evidence of dissolution precipitation and little evidence of dislocation activity suggesting a switch in deformation mechanism to predominantly melt enhanced diffusion creep at natural strain rates melt enhanced diffusion creep would predominate at larger grain sizes although probably not for most coarse grained granites the effects of melt percentage and strain rate have been studied for the 150 m aplites for samples with 5 and 10 melt deformation at 10 6 s squeezes excess melt out of the central compressed region allowing predominantly dislocation creep conversely deformation at 10 5 s produces considerable cataclasis presumably because the excess melt cannot flow laterally fast enough and a high pore fluid pressure results for samples with 15 melt deformation at both strain rates produces cataclasis presumably because the inhomogeneous melt distribution resulted in regions of decoupled grains which would produce high stress concentrations at point contacts at natural strain rates there should be little or no cataclasis if an equilibrium melt texture exists and if the melt can flow as fast as the imposed strain rate however if the melt is confined and cannot migrate a high pore fluid pressure should promote brittle deformation

three growth in the mesozoic and early tertiary and the reconstruction of palaeoclimates abstract evidence from the distribution and characteristics of fossil wood in the mesozoic and early tertiary indicates that a much warmer global climate prevailed in those times there appears to have been a broad zone of largely non seasonal climate stretching from about 32 n to 32 s palaeolatitudes in addition to this low latitude zone forest growth extended into very high palaeolatitudes where trees cannot grow at the present day a number of theories have been proposed to account for the palaeoclimate responsible for this distribution of forests most notable have been those involving changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the positions of the continents or in the obliquity of the earth s axis of rotation evidence from fossil forests indicates that a combination of the effects of an increased quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the palaeopositions of the continents in the mesozoic and early tertiary appears at the moment to be the simplest explanation for the climate of those geological times without the need to invoke axial movement

the velay dome french massif central melt generation and granite emplacement during orogenic evolution this paper is a synthesis of available data on the velay dome that include both small and large scale lithologic and structural mapping strain analysis isotope geochemistry geochronology and pressure temperature estimates the velay dome one of the largest granite migmatite domes of the variscan belt formed during orogenic collapse at around 300 ma its study allows an assessment of the thermal and geodynamic context leading to voluminous crustal anatexis of the variscan orogenic crust a first melting stage developed in connection with south verging thrust zones during the early carboniferous leading to a crustal thickening estimated at 20 km minimum the involvement of fertile lithologies and the intrusion of plutons of deep origin contributed to the development of water saturated melts the volume of biotite granite extracted from melt during this period was limited the second phase of melting corresponded to generalized melting of gneiss achieved by biotite dehydration melting reactions and accompanied by the generation of cordierite bearing granites at this stage crustal scale detachment faults were activeandpartiallyobliteratedtheearlierstructures thenewstructureswereprogressivelytiltedtotheverticalatthemarginofthe velay dome due to the southward and lateral ballooning of the granitic dome the reconstructed p t path indicate that the large volume ofmelt produced was a consequence ofa significant increase in temperature at the onset of biotite dehydration melting at the base of the crust this melting event is coeval with granulite facies metamorphism associated to underplating of mantle derived magmas as suggested by the geochemical signature of late paleozoic lower crustal xenoliths sampled by cenozoic volcanoes and withtheisotopicsignatureofthelategraniticintrusions accordingly itisproposedthatasthenosphericupwellingwasresponsible for the temperature increase favoring melting of hydrous minerals d 2001 published by elsevier science b v