diapiric transfer of melt in kilauea iki lava lake hawaii a quick efficient process of igneous differentiation kilauea iki lava lake formed in 1959 is a large pond of picritic basalt average mgo content 15 34 by weight which has cooled and crystallized as a small self roofed magma chamber repeated drilling of the upper crust of the lake down to its molten core and more recent 1981 drilling through the thermal maximum and part way through the lower crust have made it possible to monitor the differentiation processes in the lake in detail differentiation processes recognized as active in the lake include rather inefficient settling of the larger 2 10 mm olivine phenocrysts formation of segregation veins and formation of diapir like vertical olivine rich bodies all processes which occur in one or more of the other kilauean lava lakes as well in addition most of the central part of kilauea iki has been affected by diapiric melt transfer in this process relatively low density liquid present at 1145 1160 c rose from within the loose crystal mush at the base of the lens of melt and intruded the equivalent thermal horizon at the top of the lens of melt passing through the hotter but denser melt in the core of the lake without mixing the source volume from which the low density liquid was extracted is depleted in tio 2 and other incompatible elements and enriched in feo and cao the upper part of the lake shows the opposite effects the crystalline assemblage present was olivine augite minor plagioclase the crystallinity of both the source and receiving layers was low enough that no obvious textural imprint was left by the transfer process the principal evidence for its occurrence is the chemical zonation of the lake seen in core from depths of 13 to 80 m diapiric melt transfer was active from 1960 to 1971 and has affected most of the central part of the lake from 13 m to at least 80 m the process ran simultaneously with the other three main differentia tion processes but started and stopped independently of the others calculations suggest that between 21 and 42 wt liquid has been extracted from the depleted zone at 56 78 m in the center of the lake making this a very efficient process of chemical differentiation

subsurface crevasse formation in glaciers and ice sheets 1 crevasses form in response to tensile stresses in glaciers and ice sheets it has been widely assumed that crevasses initiate at or near the surface of the ice from starter cracks up to a few centimeters long if the tensile stress is sufficient these cracks propagate downward into the ice to form a crevasse until the weight induced lithostatic stress prevents them penetrating deeper we present ground penetrating radar data acquired on the rutford ice stream antarctica which indicate that crevasses occur at depths of several meters beneath the ice surface and were formed in areas where surface crevassing is absent the data support the hypothesis that these are examples of subsurface crevasse formation using linear elastic fracture mechanics lefm we investigate the feasibility of crevasse initiation at depth we consider the initiation of an isolated crevasse from a subsurface crack subject to a dynamic tensile stress which results from deformation associated with ice movement and a weight induced lithostatic stress the lefm approach allows us to estimate a init the minimum length a crack must be before crack propagation will occur in earlier models of crevasse formation it was assumed that the dynamic tensile stress is constant with depth we consider a more realistic scenario where the dynamic tensile stress varies with depth in such a way that the tensile strain rate remains constant we show that in this scenario crevasse initiation from centimeter scale starter cracks is feasible at depths of 10 30 m as well as at the surface at present the formulation of a reliable predictive model is limited by an incomplete knowledge of the mechanical properties of firn in previous studies the depth of buried crevasses has been used to estimate the time elapsed since ice was exposed to higher stresses and different flow regimes in the light of the results presented here those estimates may need to be reviewed

physical properties of partly melted tholeiitic basalt melting experiments on centimetre scale blocks of tholeiitic holyoke basalt from the mesozoic hartford basin of connecticut reveal that when this basalt is only 30 crystallized a relatively strong network of crystals exists cubes of the basalt melted to this degree retain their shape as the interstitial liquid drains easily from the crystal network the intrinsic permeability of a sample containing 34 crystals was determined to be 3 10 10 m2 which is similar to that of coarse gravel serial sections through partly melted samples reveal that the network owes its strength to monomineralic strings of plagioclase and pyroxene crystals although these strings are clearly evident once the rock has been partly melted they are difficult to see in thin sections of the initial basalt but they are present the compressive strength of the mush increases dramatically from 336 to 4333 pa as the percentage of crystals increases from 33 to 37 this rapid strengthening is believed to explain why sheets of segregation liquid in tholeiitic flood basalts have compositions that correspond to no more than 35 fractional crystallization of the host basalt these sheets are proposed to form through compaction of the crystal mush in the lower part of thick flows the compaction occurring only while the mush remains weak that is while it has 35 crystals

pipe vesicles in basalt trails left by dense immiscible melt droplets sinking through a viscous basal thermal boundary layer abstract pipe vesicles tubular cavities found in the basal parts of p hoehoe lava flows worldwide constitute one of their fundamental primary structures like other vesicles pipe vesicles have been ascribed to gas bubbles whether rising buoyantly through viscous lava or trapped in an inward moving solidification front these models involve special and unrealistic conditions and still poorly explain characteristic features of pipe vesicles in a new model proposed here pipe vesicles are postulated to be hollow trails left by droplets of dense immiscible iron rich silicate or sulphide melt sinking through a viscous thermal boundary layer just above the lower chilled margin of a p hoehoe flow unit driven by gravity the droplets sink vertically in static lava but obliquely in mobile lava such as lava undergoing gravitational spreading viscous and fluid dynamic forces tend to deform the sinking droplets and resist their motion the characteristic inverted y inverted v and lambda shapes of individual pipe vesicles reflect downward branching with a large droplet breaking up in partially crystallized highly polymerized basalt in the basal thermal boundary layer pipe vesicles do not yield lava flow directions even on a local centimeters to meters scale but are indirect indicators of widespread liquid immiscibility processes in basalts and potential commercial fe cu ni mineralization as pipe vesicles are not vesicles cavities left by gas escape a new term is necessary and the term vermiform p hoehoe having good descriptive power but no genetic connonations is suggested for p hoehoe with pipe vesicles

glacier crevasses observations models and mass balance implications we review the findings of approximately 60 years of in situ and remote sensing studies of glacier crevasses as well as the three broad classes of numerical models now employed to simulate crevasse fracture the relatively new insight that mixed mode fracture in local stress equilibrium rather than downstream advection alone can introduce nontrivial curvature to crevasse geometry may merit the reinterpretation of some key historical observation studies in the past three decades there have been tremendous advances in the spatial resolution of satellite imagery as well as fully automated algorithms capable of tracking crevasse displacements between repeat images despite considerable advances in developing fully transient three dimensional ice flow models over the past two decades both the zero stress and linear elastic fracture mechanics crevasse models have remained fundamentally unchanged over this time in the past decade however multidimensional and transient formulations of the continuum damage mechanics approach to simulating ice fracture have emerged the combination of employing damage mechanics to represent slow upstream deterioration of ice strength and fracture mechanics to represent rapid failure at downstream termini holds promise for implementation in large scale ice sheet models finally given the broad interest in the sea level rise implications of recent and future cryospheric change we provide a synthesis of 10 mechanisms by which crevasses can influence glacier mass balance

basal crevasses on the larsen c ice shelf antarctica implications for meltwater ponding and hydrofracture a key mechanism for the rapid collapse of both the larsen a and b ice shelves was meltwater driven crevasse propagation basal crevasses large scale structural features within ice shelves may have contributed to this mechanism in three important ways i the shelf surface deforms due to modified buoyancy and gravitational forces above the basal crevasse creating 10 m deep compressional surface depressions where meltwater can collect ii bending stresses from the modified shape drive surface crevassing with crevasses reaching 40 m in width on the flanks of the basal crevasse induced trough and iii the ice thickness is substantially reduced thereby minimizing the propagation distance before a full thickness rift is created we examine a basal crevasse 4 5 km in length 230 m in height and the corresponding surface features in the cabinet inlet sector of the larsen c ice shelf using a combination of high resolution 0 5 m satellite imagery kinematic gps and in situ ground penetrating radar we discuss how basal crevasses may have contributed to the breakup of the larsen b ice shelf by directly controlling the location of meltwater ponding and highlight the presence of similar features on the amery and getz ice shelves with high resolution imagery 2012 american geophysical union all rights reserved

propagation of long fractures in the ronne ice shelf antarctica investigated using a numerical model of fracture propagation long rifts near the front of the ronne ice shelf antarctica are observed to begin as fractures along the lateral boundaries of outlet streams feeding the shelf these flaws eventually become the planes along which tabular icebergs calve the fractures propagate laterally as they advect through the shelf with orientations that can be explained by the glaciological stress field fracture length remains constrained over much of the advective path and locations of crack tip arrest are observed to coincide with structural boundaries such as suture zones between ice from adjacent outlet glaciers geomechanical principles and numerical models demonstrate that in the absence of these suture zones crack tips are unlikely to arrest in these locations we conclude that lateral inhomogeneity in the ice plays an important role in fracture mechanics through most of the ice shelf only near the shelf front are these local structural effects overcome such that the large rifts required for tabular iceberg production develop

tidal and spatial variability of flow speed and seismicity near the grounding zone of beardmore glacier antarctica gps measurements of tidal modulation of ice flow and seismicity within the grounding zone of beardmore glacier show that tidally induced fluctuations of horizontal flow are largest near the grounding line and decrease downstream seismic activity is continuous but peaks occur on falling and rising tides beamforming methods reveal that most seismic events originate from two distinct locations one on the grid north side of the grounding zone and one on the grid south side the broad pattern of deformation generated as beardmore glacier merges with the ross ice shelf results in net extension along the grid north side of the grounding zone and net compression along the grid south side during falling tides seismic activity peaks on both sides because of increased vertical flexure across the grounding line during rising tides seismic activity in the region of extension on the grid north side is relatively low because the tidal influence on both horizontal strain rate and vertical flexure is small on the grid south side during rising tides however tidally induced horizontal strain rates promote increased seismicity in regions of long term compressional flow paths our study highlights how concurrent geodetic and seismic measurements provide insight into grounding zone mechanics and their influence on ice shelf buttressing

convective exchange between pore fluid and an overlying reservoir of denser fluid a post cumulus process in layered intrusions abstract we describe experiments on buoyancy driven exchange between fluid in a porous bed of glass balls and an overlying reservoir of denser fluid fingers of the dense fluid penetrated downwards into the porous medium when the two fluids had equal viscosities the rate of convective exchange was proportional to permeability and the density difference between the fluids and was inversely proportional to viscosity when the fluids had different viscosities the rate further depended on the viscosity ratio raised to the power 0 4 if a layer of dense new melt is emplaced above a porous cumulus pile forming the floor of a magma chamber an analogous process may occur as the new melt can percolate down into the pore space and expel the less dense intercumulus liquid convective exchange may proceed at rates of metres per year to tens of metres per year in basic to ultrabasic magmatic systems this conclusion strongly depends on the porosity of the cumulus pile and is less sensitive to the magmatic viscosities chemical and textural effects will result from this process such as re equilibration and resorption of cumulus crystals when intercumulus melt exchange is incomplete lateral geochemical gradients may be preserved in cumulate rocks

entablature fracture types and mechanisms entablature is the term used to describe zones or tiers of irregular jointing in basaltic lava flows it is thought to form when water from rivers dammed by the lava inundates the lava flow surface and during lava meltwater interaction in subglacial settings a number of different fracture types are described in entablature outcrops from the burfell lava and older lava flows in jorsardalur southwest iceland these are striae bearing column bounding fractures and pseudopillow fracture systems that themselves consist of two different fracture types master fractures with dimpled surface textures and subsidiary fractures with curved striae the interaction of pseudopillow fracture systems and columnar jointing in the entablature produces the chevron fracture patterns that are commonly observed in entablature cube jointing is a more densely fractured version of entablature which likely forms when more coolant enters the hot lava the entablature tiers display closely spaced striae and dendritic crystal shapes which indicate rapid cooling master fracture surfaces show a thin band with an evolved composition at the fracture surface mineral textures in this band also show evidence of quenching of this material this is interpreted as gas driven filter pressing of late stage residual melt that is drawn into an area of low pressure immediately preceding or during master fracture formation by ductile extensional fracture of hot partially crystallised lava this melt is then quenched by an influx of water and or steam when the master fracture fully opens our findings suggest that master fractures are the main conduit for coolant entering the lava flow during entablature formation

the landsat image mosaic of antarctica abstract the landsat image mosaic of antarctica lima is the first true color high spatial resolution image of the seventh continent it is constructed from nearly 1100 individually selected landsat 7 etm scenes each image was orthorectified and adjusted for geometric sensor and illumination variations to a standardized almost seamless surface reflectance product mosaicing to avoid clouds produced a high quality nearly cloud free benchmark data set of antarctica for the international polar year from images collected primarily during 1999 2003 multiple color composites and enhancements were generated to illustrate additional characteristics of the multispectral data including the true appearance of the surface discrimination between snow and bare ice reflectance variations within bright snow recovered reflectance values in regions of sensor saturation and subtle topographic variations associated with ice flow lima is viewable and individual scenes or user defined portions of the mosaic are downloadable at http lima usgs gov educational materials associated with lima are available at http lima nasa gov

crystal mush compaction and the origin of pegmatitic segregation sheets in a thick flood basalt flow in the mesozoic hartford basin connecticut

interactions between bubbles in magmas and lavas effects of bubble deformation the interactions between two deformable bubbles are studied in order to determine the effects of deformation on bubble dynamics and to determine the limits in which the effects of deformation can be ignored deformation due to hydrodynamic interactions with other bubbles leads to alignment of horizontally offset bubbles and thus an enhanced rate of coalescence bubble alignment may produce spatial inhomogeneities in bubble concentrations in magmas which implies temporal variations in the concentration and size of bubbles in erupting magmas and spatial variations in solidified lavas an approximate quantitative model for the rate of coalescence of deformable bubbles is developed based on a series of experiments the effects of deformation can be ignored if the largest bubbles have radii less than about 5 mm in silicate magmas

mixing of stratified liquids by the motion of gas bubbles application to magma mixing mafic magma underlying more silicic magma in a reservoir can exsolve volatiles as it crystallizes forming bubbles that segregate upwards to the interface with the overlying silicic magma we describe laboratory experiments designed to investigate how gas bubbles migrate into the more viscous upper layer in one regime bubbles move individually across the interface entraining a small quantity of lower layer fluid and the two layers become progressively stirred into a homogeneous mixture in a second regime bubbles form a thin foam layer at the interface which becomes gravitationally unstable giving rise to two phase plumes which rise and produce a coarse mixture of the liquids for a given viscosity ratio the transition between these regimes occurs when the gas flux is greater than a critical value which we found to decrease with increasing viscosity ratio we estimate the critical gas flux for magmatic conditions and how vesiculation may vary with pressure degree of crystallization and the composition of volatile components mafic inclusions which are often found in silicic to intermediate lavas can form in the plume regime analysis of the instability of the foam predicts wavelengths of between 1 cm and 1 m which is consistent with the observed sizes of inclusions volatiles from the mafic magma may be efficiently transported by this mechanism into the viscous silicic magma as bubble plumes despite low stokes velocities for individual vesicles at small viscosity ratios or low gas fluxes the bubbling regime can produce hybrid magmas

structural provinces of the ross ice shelf antarctica the surface of the ross ice shelf ris is textured by flow stripes crevasses and other features related to ice flow and deformation here moderate resolution optical satellite images are used to map and classify regions of the ris characterized by different surface textures because the textures arise from ice deformation the map is used to identify structural provinces with common deformation history we classify four province types regions associated with large outlet glaciers shear zones extension downstream of obstacles and suture zones between provinces with different upstream sources adjacent provinces with contrasting histories are in some locations deforming at different rates suggesting that our province map is also an ice fabric map structural provinces have more complicated shapes in the part of the ice shelf fed by west antarctic ice streams than in the part fed by outlet glaciers from the transantarctic mountains the map may be used to infer past variations in stress conditions and flow events that cannot be inferred from flow traces alone

structures and fabrics in glacial ice a review abstract glaciers ice sheets and ice caps represent tectonic systems driven by gravity their movement can be studied in real time and the rheological properties and strength of ice determined from laboratory experiments and field measurements all glacial ice has primary stratification exhibited by variations in grain size bubble content and debris content as it deforms with deformation dominated by plastic flow and recrystallization accompanied locally by fracture under tension a suite of structures develops that reflects the primary fabric of the ice and the anisotropy that develops as a result of cumulative deformation initial variations in solid impurity content and strain dependent anisotropy as a result of a crystallographic fabric give rise to effective viscosity increases or decreases compared to isotropic polycrystalline ice of about a factor of ten foliation develops from inherited mostly stratification or introduced mostly ice veins or fracture traces fabric elements and from dynamic recrystallization it is largely dependent on the accumulated strain which is highest at the base and near the margins of glaciers ice sheets and ice streams folds develop largely passively due to initial amplification of irregularities in the primary stratification to variations in flow with time or to inhomogeneous flow associated with shear zones and ductile accommodation around open fractures buckle folds and boudinage mostly on a small scale occur where viscosity contrast is large mostly in basal ice thrusting and wrench faulting are documented in surging glaciers but theoretically most unlikely and rare or absent elsewhere many structures interpreted as faults are not due to shear failure but rather result from shear displacements during opening and closing of tensile fractures

modeling the geysers vsp a progress report two years ago workers from the lawrence berkeley laboratories reported a shear wave vsp in the geysers steam field california in which the sv signal from the in line surface shear wave vibrator arrived at the down well geophones about 0 1 s earlier than the sh signal from the cross line vibrator see majer et al geophysics january 1988 the seismograms are shown in figure 1 this delay over a pathlength of about 700 m is remarkable and was attributed to strong crack induced anisotropy large vertical liquid filled fractures striking in the radial direction were suggested as causing sv waves polarized parallel to the plane of the cracks to meet less impedance and travel faster than sh waves which vibrate at right angles to the cracks this is a well established phenomenon

experimental and theoretical fracture mechanics applied to antarctic ice fracture and surface crevassing recent disintegration of ice shelves on the antarctic peninsula has highlighted the need for a better understanding of ice shelf fracture processes generally in this paper we present a fracture criterion incorporating new experimental fracture data coupled with an ice shelf flow model to predict the spatial distribution of surface crevassing on the filchner ronne ice shelf we have developed experiments that have enabled us to quantify for the first time quasi stable crack growth in antarctic ice core specimens using a fracture initiation toughness kinit for which crack growth commences the tests cover a full range of near surface densities 560 871 kg m 3 10 9 75 7 m depth results indicate an apparently linear dependence of fracture toughness on porosity such that kinit 0 257 80 7 predicting a zero porosity toughness of ko 155 kpa m1 2 we have used this data to test the applicability to crevassing of a two dimensional fracture mechanics criterion for the propagation of a small sharp crack in a biaxial stress field the growth of an initial flaw into a larger crevasse which involves a purely tensile crack opening depends on the size of the flaw the magnitude of kinit and the nature of the applied stress field by incorporating the criterion into a stress map of the filchner ronne ice shelf derived from a depth integrated finite element model of the strain rate field we have been able to predict regions of potential crevassing these agree well with satellite imagery provided an initial flaw size is assumed in the range 5 50 cm

segregation processes in vesiculating crystallizing magmas vesiculation of crystallising magma can produce either a mobile vesicular magma or a rigid network of crystals containing vesicular liquid where partially crystallized rigid mush underlies less crystallized magma such as near the base of a lava flow or in the cumulus pile of a magma chamber evolved interstitial melt and or gas may escape into the main body of magma the consequences of this may include contamination of the overlying liquid with gas and interstitial melt or intrusion of diapirs of vesicular evolved liquids to form vertical vesicle cylinders and other segregation features found in many basaltic lava flows and sills analog experiments were used to investigate some of the phenomena that can arise during vesiculation within a crystal mush which was simulated by pumping air through a porous plate that formed the floor of a container filled with a viscous liquid floored with a layer of glass beads experiments used either a single liquid or two stably stratified liquids with a liquid interface either coincident with the top of the porous layer of beads or slightly above the porous layer for a range of liquid viscosities and air flow rates vesiculation rates individual bubbles emerged from the top of the porous layer of beads and carried a thin trail of interstitial liquid into the overlying liquid the number of bubble trains leaving the surface of the porous bed increased with decreasing liquid viscosity and flow rate and with increasing bead size and hence with increasing permeability analog vesicle cylinders composed of diapirs of bubbly interstitial liquid were produced only when a layer of buoyant bubbly liquid lay above the surface of the porous layer the relative size of the bubbles and constrictions within the porous layer are argued to control whether individual bubbles leading to bubble trains or vesicular liquid leading to vesicle cylinders leaves the porous layer and hence whether vesicle cylinders can form

gas driven filter pressing in magmas most silicic and some mafic magmas expand via second boiling if they crystallize at depths of about 10 km or less the buildup of gas pressure due to second boiling can be relieved by expulsion of melt out of the region of crystallization and this process of gas driven filter pressing assists the crystallization differentiation of magmas for gas driven filter pressing to be effective the region of crystallization must inflate slowly relative to buildup of pressure and expulsion of melt these conditions are satisfied in undercooled magmatic inclusions and in thin sheets of primitive magma underplating cooler magma reservoirs gas driven filter pressing thereby adds fractionated melt to magma bodies gas driven filter pressing is probably the dominant process by which highly evolved melts segregate from crystal mush to form aplitic dikes in granitic plutons this process could also account for the production of voluminous crystal poor rhyolites

an experimental investigation of volatile exsolution in evolving magma chambers abstract previous laboratory experiments investigating the fluid dynamics of replenished magma chambers have been extended to model effects resulting from the release of gas turbulent transfer of heat between a layer of dense hot and volatile rich mafic magma overlying cooler more evolved magma can lead to crystallization and exsolution of volatiles in the lower layer small gas bubbles can cause the bulk density to decrease to that of the upper layer and thus produce sudden overturning and initiate mixing followed by further exsolution of gas and explosive eruption these processes have been modelled in the laboratory using a chemical reaction between sodium or potassium carbonate and nitric acid to release small bubbles of co 2 we have investigated both the initial overturning produced by gas release in the lower layer and the subsequent evolution of gas due to intimate mixing of the two layers the latter experiments in which the reactants remained isolated in the two layers until overturning occurred demonstrated unambiguously that the fluxes of chemical components across the interfaces between convecting layers are very slow compared to the flux of heat this shows that the evolution of layers of magma of different origins and composition can take place nearly independently of each other the magmas can coexist in the same stratified chamber until their bulk densities become equal and they mix together the processes illustrated in these experiments could occur in h 2 o bearing magmas such as in the calcalkaline association and in co 2 bearing mafic magmas such as in silica undersaturated suites

ice flow of the antarctic ice sheet we present a reference comprehensive high resolution digital mosaic of ice motion in antarctica assembled from multiple satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar data acquired during the international polar year 2007 to 2009 the data reveal widespread patterned enhanced flow with tributary glaciers reaching hundreds to thousands of kilometers inland over the entire continent this view of ice sheet motion emphasizes the importance of basal slip dominated tributary flow over deformation dominated ice sheet flow redefines our understanding of ice sheet dynamics and has far reaching implications for the reconstruction and prediction of ice sheet evolution

control of early formed vesicle cylinders on upper crustal prismatic jointing in compound pāhoehoe lavas of elephanta island western deccan traps india upper crustal prismatic joints and vesicle cylinders common in p hoehoe lava flows form early and late respectively and are therefore independent features however small scale compound p hoehoe lava lobes on elephanta island western deccan traps india which resemble s type spongy p hoehoe in some aspects contain vesicle cylinders which apparently controlled the locations of upper crustal prismatic joints the lobes are decimeters thick did not experience inflation after emplacement and solidified rapidly they have meter scale areas that are exceptionally rich in vesicle cylinders up to 68 cylinders in 1 m2 with a mean spacing of 12 1 cm separated by cylinder free areas and pervasive upper crustal prismatic jointing with t curved t and quadruple joint intersections a majority 76 5 of the cylinders are located exactly on joints or at joint intersections and were not simply captured by downward growing joints as the cylinders show no deflection in vertical section we suggest that large numbers of cylinders originated in a layer of bubble rich residual liquid at the top of a basal diktytaxitic crystal mush zone which was formed very early probably within the first few minutes of the emplacement history the locations where the rising cylinders breached the crust provided weak points or mechanical flaws towards which any existing joints formed by thermal contraction propagated new joints may also have propagated outwards from the cylinders and linked up laterally some cylinders breached the crust between the joints and thus formed a little later than most others the elephanta island example reveals that whereas thermal contraction is undoubtedly valid as a standard mechanism for forming upper crustal prismatic joints abundant mechanical flaws such as large concentrations of early formed crust breaching vesicle cylinders can also control the joint formation process

west antarctic ice stream discharge variability mechanism controls and pattern of grounding line retreat west antarctic ice streams show pronounced flow variability in their downstream reaches with changes stranding formerly fast flowing ice and redirecting discharge a simple model in which the temperature gradient in basal ice provides control of fast sliding in the downstream reach can explain this behavior downstream thinning steepens the temperature gradient near the bed increasing upward heat flow and the tendency toward basal freezing the basal temperature gradient is steepest and the tendency toward basal freezing the strongest in ice that has experienced the most rapid downstream thinning that is the fastest flowing ice the most successful rapid outflows are regions where basal water from elsewhere is likely to be consumed freezing here leads to episodic slow downs and redirections of flow the history of which appears in satellite imagery as ice rises distorted streaklines and margin jumps created when discharge migrates to areas with more favorable basal conditions one compelling consequence of this process is that it makes catastrophic collapse less likely if discharge currents are forced to slow when they become too fast thin then there may be an upper bound on the retreat rate and discharge flux of the west antarctic ice sheet wais ice stream system under the present climate

a millennium of variable ice flow recorded by the ross ice shelf antarctica an enhanced composite advanced very high resolution radiometer avhrr image is used to map flow stripes and rifts across the ross ice shelf antarctica the patterns of these flow related features reveal a history of discharge variations from the ice streams feeding the eastern part of the shelf the most profound variations are visible in the track of rifts downstream of crary ice rise flow stripe bends to the west of this ice rise and adjacent to steershead ice rise and changes in the northern margin of ice stream b the track of rifts downstream of crary ice rise indicates that the ice rise has existed for at least 700 years the character of this track changes about 350 km downstream indicating a rearrangement of flow patterns about 550 years ago the large bulge in the flow stripes to the west of crary ice rise is shown in detail with bent flow stripes extending for several hundred kilometers along flow this feature formed from the south possibly due to a change in the discharge of ice stream a the avhrr image documents a complex history associated with the shutdown of ice stream c with changes in the margins of ice stream c and the northern margin of ice stream b and the grounding of steershead ice rise with an associated bending and truncation of flow stripes landsat imagery shows a region that appears to be actively extending just downstream of the ice rise as the shelf continues to respond to recent changes in ice stream discharge we present a four stage flow history which accounts for the features preserved in the ice shelf

rapid large area mapping of ice flow using landsat 8 abstract we report on the maturation of optical satellite image based ice velocity mapping over the ice sheets and large glacierized areas enabled by the high radiometric resolution and internal geometric accuracy of landsat 8 s operational land imager oli detailed large area single season mosaics and time series maps of ice flow were created using data spanning june 2013 to june 2015 the 12 bit radiometric quantization and 15 m pixel scale resolution of oli band 8 enable displacement tracking of subtle snow drift patterns on ice sheet surfaces at 1 m precision ice sheet and snowfield snow drift features persist for typically 16 to 64 days and up to 432 days depending primarily on snow accumulation rates this results in spatially continuous mapping of ice flow extending the mapping capability beyond crevassed areas our method uses image chip cross correlation and sub pixel peak fitting in matching landsat path row pairs high pass filtering is applied to the imagery to enhance local surface texture the current high image acquisition rates of landsat 8 725 scenes per day globally reduces the impact of high cloudiness in polar and mountain terrain and allows rapid compilation of large areas or dense temporal coverage of seasonal ice flow variations the results rival the coverage and accuracy of interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar mapping

a damage mechanics assessment of the larsen b ice shelf prior to collapse toward a physically based calving law calving is a primary process of mass ablation for glaciers and ice sheets though it still eludes a general physical law here we propose a calving framework based on continuum damage mechanics coupled with the equations of viscous deformation of glacier ice we introduce a scalar damage variable that quantifies the loss of load bearing surface area due to fractures and that feeds back with ice viscosity to represent fracture induced softening the calving law is a standard failure criterion for viscous damaging materials and represents a macroscopic brittle instability quantified by a critical or threshold damage we constrain this threshold using the ice sheet system model issm by inverting for damage on the larsen b ice shelf prior to its 2002 collapse by analyzing the damage distribution in areas that subsequently calved we conclude that calving occurs after fractures have reduced the load bearing capacity of the ice by 60 10 2012 american geophysical union all rights reserved

compositional convection in a reactive crystalline mush and melt differentiation fractional crystallization and partial melting involve relative motion of liquid and solid phases and chemical and thermal interactions between them to elucidate some physical principles of thermosolutal convection in a reactive porous medium we describe experiments on the directional solidification of aqueous ammonium chloride solutions the addition of small amounts of a polymerizing agent permits variation of the solution viscosity independently of thermal conditions the phase diagram and permeability solutions were cooled from below and crystallization developed at the base of the tank generating at first a field of thin plumes of light residual fluid released from the boundary layer at the top of the mush the interstitial fluid within the mush also became unstable eventually the onset of convection occurring when the porous medium rayleigh number of the mush reached a critical value this threshold value was found to be 25 at low initial superheat and to decrease with increasing superheat local thermodynamic equilibrium between crystals and liquid within the mush coupled the evolution of temperature composition and porosity convective motions locally caused dissolution and precipitation and hence fluctuations of porosity developed dissolution occurred preferentially in the central parts of upwellings and the upflow gradually focused being ultimately channelized into narrow chimneys devoid of crystals all else being equal the areal density of chimneys was greater the lower the viscosity chimney diameter increased with increasing solution viscosity in the liquid above the growing mush the convective plumes were very similar to salt fingers depending on solution viscosity and temperature gradient they exhibited a phenomenon of collective instability such that vertical motion was disrupted by wave instabilities the base plate temperature chosen was above the eutectic and hence the total amount of crystals at the end of experiments with the same initial composition and the same final temperature was a constant fixed by the phase diagram the spatial distribution of crystals and the final porosity of the mush were however determined by the strength of compositional convection as measured by the porous medium rayleigh number when no convection occurred mush thickness finally became equal to the initial layer thickness and the system was homogeneous when compositional convection occurred the overlying reservoir underwent chemical evolution and mush growth slowed dramatically in experiments with progressively lower solution viscosity and hence more vigorous convection final mush thickness was progressively less and final porosity lower final mush thickness was found to scale with solution viscosity to the power 0 33 during fractional crystallization of magma the effects of compositional convection can be recorded in the chemical and mineralogical features of cumulate rocks we speculate that fossil chimney structures can be found in the lower zone of the bushveld ultramafic complex in the form of iron rich platinum bearing dunite pipes this could explain the adcumulate nature of the lower zone rocks and the chemical and mineralogical similarities between the pipes and the overlying merensky reef the merensky reef would be interpreted as a hiatus in mush growth the results may also have applications to the flow structure in regions of partial melting and in the earth s core

surface structure and stability of the larsen c ice shelf antarctic peninsula a structural glaciological description and analysis of surface morphological features of the larsen c ice shelf antarctic peninsula is derived from satellite images spanning the period 1963 2007 the data are evaluated in two time ranges a comparison of a 1963 satellite image photomosaic with a modern digital mosaic compiled using 2003 04 austral summer data and an image series since 2003 showing recent evolution of the shelf we map the ice shelf edge rift swarms crevasses and crevasse traces and linear longitudinal structures called flow stripes or streak lines the latter are observed to be continuous over distances of up to 200 km from the grounding line to the ice shelf edge with little evidence of changes in pattern over that distance integrated velocity measurements along a flowline indicate that the shelf has been stable for 560 years in the mid shelf area linear longitudinal features may be grouped into 12 units each related to one or a small group of outlet feeder glaciers to the shelf we observe that the boundaries between these flow units often mark rift terminations the boundary zones originate upstream at capes islands or other suture areas between outlet glaciers in agreement with previous work our findings imply that rift terminations within such suture zones indicate that they contain anomalously soft ice we thus suggest that suture zones within the larsen c ice shelf and perhaps within ice shelves more generally may act to stabilize them by reducing regional stress intensities and thus rates of rift lengthening

the marginal shear stress of ice stream b west antarctica to ascertain whether the velocity of ice stream b west antarctica may be controlled by the stress in its marginal shear zones the snake and the dragon we undertook a determination of the marginal shear stress in the dragon near camp up b by using ice itself as a stress meter the observed marginal shear strain rate of 0 14 a 1 is used to calculate the marginal shear stress from the flow law of ice determined by creep tests on ice cores from a depth of 300 m in the dragon obtained by using a hot water ice coring drill the test specimen orientation relative to the stress axes in the tests is chosen on the basis of c axis fabrics so that the test applies horizontal shear across vertical planes parallel to the margin the resulting marginal shear stress is 2 2 0 3 10 5 pa this implies that 63 100 of the ice stream s support against gravitational loading comes from the margins and only 37 0 from the base so that the margins play an important role in controlling the ice stream motion the marginal shear stress value is twice that given by the ice stream model of echelmeyer and others 1994 and the corresponding strain rate enhancement factors differ greatly e 1 2 vs 10 12 5 this large discrepancy could be explained by recrystallization of the ice during or shortly after coring estimates of the expected recrystallization time scale bracket the 1 h time scale of coring and leave the likelihood of recrystallization uncertain however the observed two maximum fabric type is not what is expected for annealing recrystallization from the sharp single maximum fabric that would be expected in situ at the high shear strains involved 20 experimental data from wilson 1982 suggest that if the core did recrystallize the prior fabric was a two maximum fabric not substantially different from the observed one which implies that the measured flow law and derived marginal shear stress are applicable to the in situ situation these issues need to be resolved by further work to obtain a more definitive observational assessment of the marginal shear stress

a slippery problem with explosive consequences water has remarkable effects on the properties of geochemical materials such as magma the result is that a small change in water concentration can make the difference between explosive volcanic eruptions and less violent ones in his perspective spera discusses results reported in the same issue by ochs and lange on new measurements of the amount of water in molten silicates the findings will add new insight to the atomic structure of these materials as well as the effects of water on them

the importance of pahoehoe abstract pahoehoe lava flows are common in every basaltic province and their submarine variants pillow lavas and sheet flows cover the bulk of the earth pahoehoe flows are emplaced by inflation the injection of molten lava underneath a solidified crust only in the past few years has an understanding of the inflation process and the ability to recognize ancient inflated lava flows been achieved all large terrestrial basaltic flow fields studied to date including flood basalts were emplaced as thermally efficient inflated compound pahoehoe sheet flows this leads us to propose that this is the standard way of emplacing large lavas the swell hypothesis the atmospheric impact of such flood basalt eruptions could have been protracted and severe providing a plausible link between flood basalt eruptions and mass extinctions

ocean mixing and heat transport processes observed under the ross ice shelf control its basal melting the stability of large antarctic ice shelves has important implications for global sea level sea ice area and ocean circulation a significant proportion of ice mass loss from these ice shelves is through ocean driven melting which is controlled by largely unobserved oceanic thermodynamic and circulatory processes in the cavity beneath the ice shelf here we use direct measurements to provide evidence of the changing water column structure in the cavity beneath the ross ice shelf the planet s largest ice shelf by area the cavity water column data exhibit both basal and benthic boundary layers along with evidence of tidally modulated and diffusively convecting internal mixing processes a region of thermohaline interleaving in the upper middle water column indicates elevated diffusion and the potential to modify the cavity circulation the measurements were recorded using the aotearoa new zealand ross ice shelf program hot water drill borehole melted in the central region of the shelf in december 2017 hwd2 only the second borehole through the central region of the ice shelf following j9 in 1977 these data and comparison with the 1977 data provide valuable insight into ice shelf cavity circulation and aid understanding of the evolution of the presently stable ross ice shelf

tidal pacing skipped slips and the slowdown of whillans ice stream antarctica we summarize new observations of the deceleration and stick slip motion of whillans ice stream wis antarctica we refine the location of the large sticky spots that resist motion between slip events the locations of which are controlled by the patterns of subglacial water flow our examination of the long term velocity time series for the ice stream reveals that the decadal scale deceleration is not occurring at a steady rate but varies at the sub decadal timescale this unsteady deceleration modulates the temporal evolution of a broad 50 km across surface elevation bulge forming at the junction between the relatively narrow upstream portion of the ice stream and broad ice plain that constitutes the downstream end of wis comparison of observations from april 2003 and november 2010 reveals significant changes in the tidally modulated stick slip cycle that regulates motion on the ice plain we observe that the timing of slip events has become less regular in response to decreased flow speed in the upstream portions of the ice stream the decreased regularity of slip events has reduced the release of stored elastic strain during slip events increasing the rate of deceleration

the yield strength of subliquidus basalts experimental results yield strength is an important property of particle fluid suspensions in basaltic lavas that crystallize during flow emplacement the onset of yield strength may result in threshold transitions in flow behavior and flow surface morphology however yield strength crystallinity relations are poorly known particularly in geologic suspensions where difficulties of experimental and field measurements have limited data acquisition in the subliquidus temperature range here we describe two complementary experimental approaches designed to examine the effect of particle shape on the low shear yield strength of subliquidus basalts the first involves melting cubes of holocrystalline basalt samples with different initial textures to determine the temperature crystallinity at which these samples lose their cubic form these experiments provide information on the minimum crystal volume fractions 0 20 0 35 required to maintain the structual integrity of the cube the second set of experiments uses suspensions of corn syrup and neutrally buoyant particles to isolate the effect of particle shape on yield strength development from these experiments we conclude that the shape is important in determining the volume fraction range over which suspensions exhibit a finite yield strength as anisotropic particles may orient during flow the effect of particle shape will be controlled by the orientation distribution of the constituent particles we find that the so called excluded volume can be used to relate results of experiments on anisotropic particles to those of suspensions of spherical particles recent measurements of yield strength onset in basaltic melts at crystal volume fractions near 0 25 are consistent with our observations that crystal frameworks develop at low to moderate crystal volume fractions when crystals are anisotropic e g plagioclase we further suggest that conditions leading to yield strength onset at low crystallinities include rapid cooling increased crystal anisotropy heterogeneous nucleation which promotes extensive crystal clustering and large cluster anisotropy and static conditions random crystal orientations

formation of segregation structures in hafnarhraun pāhoehoe lobe sw iceland a window into crystal melt separation in basaltic magma to gain insights into crystal melt separation processes during basalt differentiation we have studied an 8 m thick p hoehoe lava lobe from the hafnarhraun lava flow field in sw iceland the lobe has abundant melt segregations porous cylindrical and sheet like structures generally interpreted as separated residual melts of a lava lobe we divide these melt segregations into three types based on morphology and composition vesicle cylinders vc type 1 horizontal vesicle sheets hvs1 and type 2 horizontal vesicle sheets hvs2 remarkably the studied vc are not simple residual melts generated by fractional crystallization but their composition points to removal of plagioclase from the parental lava hvs1 resemble vc but have fractionated more olivine ol plagioclase plg augite and have lost most if not all of their olivine phenocrysts hvs2 are fe rich and evolved corresponding to residual melts after 50 60 fractional crystallization of the lobe we suggest that the hafnarhraun vc formed in a two stage process firstly vc forming residual melt and vapor detached as rising diapirs from ol plg melt vapor mush near the lava base and later these vc diapirs accumulated ol phenocrysts and minor plg microphenocrysts in the lava core hvs1 represent accumulations of vc to the viscous base of the solidifying upper crust of the lobe and hvs2 formed as evolved vapor saturated residual melts seeped into voids within the upper crust such vapor aided differentiation here documented for the hafnarhraun lava may also apply to shallow crustal magma storage zones contributing to the formation of evolved basalts

a possible link between gabbros bearing high temperature iddingsite alteration and huge pegmatoid intrusions the society islands french polynesia this paper reports new field observations and new petrological textural and geochemical data on two gabbroic intrusions and one pegmatoid dyke from the french polynesian islands maupiti and bora bora respectively olivine crystals from the faataufi and barque de hiro gabbros maupiti include high temperature iddingsite hti exhibiting three distinct morphological facies chemical and crystallographical data performed by electron microprobe scanning microscope x ray diffractometry and near infrared spectroscopy show that hti results from modifications of olivine structure through intense hydroxylation and fe oxidation the hti free 120 m wide cloche de hiro dyke bora bora exhibits a textural zonation from heterogranular intergranular gabbro peripheral part to typical pegmatoid inner area we propose a textural tetrahedral classificatory diagram which can be used to clearly distinguish the textural characteristics of the pegmatoids from those of the other coarse grained samples through comparison with a lava flow containing vesicle rich segregation sheets we suggest that the cloche de hiro dyke may correspond to a huge segregation structure derived from a maupiti type hti bearing gabbro through a vapor differentiation process both intrusions might be considered as representative of two superposed levels in a vertically arranged magmatic complex in this view the maupiti gabbroic bodies would represent the lower part of the postulated system under high oxygen fugacity olivine crystals would have undergone important modifications of their structure leading to hti the huge bora bora pegmatoid dyke would be the upper part of the complex after expulsion from the hti bearing gabbroic solidification zone by build up of gas pressure vesicle rich residual melt would have gathered into a shallow level and crystallized there as a pegmatoid body

a physical model for metal extraction and transport in shallow magmatic systems 1 the highest concentrations of metals e g cu au ag mo in the earth s crust are found in porphyry type deposits the metals are ultimately sourced from magmas and appear to be concentrated hundred to thousand fold from typical magmatic contents ppm ppb in the exsolved volatile phase to better quantify the purging and transport of metals we develop a physical model of volatile evolution in an incrementally built upper crustal magma reservoirs that considers 1 partitioning of metals from the melt to an exsolved volatile phase and 2 advection of the buoyant volatile phase using a single dimensionless parameter the peclet number pe ratio of advection rate over diffusion rate we propose that metal extraction and segregation from magmas can occur in 3 stages with different pe 1 during exsolution of the magmatic volatile phase in shallow crystal poor magma bodies slow volatile advection pe 1 2 during the growth of volatile channels that develop in the reservoir as crystallinity increases pe 1 and 3 during advection in connected channels rapid volatile advection high pe 1 for each stage a metal enrichment factor can be calculated allowing insight into the optimal conditions to maximize metal mass flux into the overlying hydrothermal system the model predicts that the most efficient purging of metals occurs for magmas with intermediate volatile contents and is enhanced during late stage magmatic activity as the reservoirs reach high crystallinity and are not disturbed by volcanic venting in agreement with natural observations suggesting that ore formation post dates volcanic activity

segregation vesicles gas filter pressing and igneous differentiation some vesicles in certain subaerial flows of basalt and basaltic andesite are partially filled with dark partly glassy segregation material the segregation material has about three times the concentration of k o tio and p o as the associated host rock therefore the segregation materials are inferred to be frozen residual liquids that migrated into the vesicles several possible processes for filling the vesicles are examined within the context of the cooling time implied by heat conduction the preferred process is one in which the residual liquid migrates through a porous and permeable but rigid network of interlocking crystals in response to a pressure gradient generated by vapor saturated crystallization as crystallization proceeds h o is concentrated in the residual liquid and gas this produces a higher pressure in the gas poor matrix than in the vesicles and forces liquid to migrate into the vesicles textural features suggestive of or consistent with the process include 1 vesiculation

larsen b ice shelf rheology preceding its disintegration inferred by a control method a new complete velocity field from satellite remote sensing is combined with numerical modeling to infer the rheology of the larsen b ice shelf before its disintegration the resulting spatial distribution of the flow parameter exhibits large variability which reflects very well observed ice shelf features this variability is explained by factors including advection of colder ice from tributary glaciers bottom melting and the presence of zones of strong shear and fracture the inferred distribution is applied to simulate numerically the flow regime ofthe ice shelf and to examine its modification by the presence of open rifts and by the retreat of ice shelf front between 1996 and 2000 results demonstrate that variable rheology is essential to understanding ice shelf evolution especially the close relationship among frontal retreat fracture ice flow acceleration and the destabilization of ice shelves copyright 2007 by the american geophysical union

recent changes in the dynamic condition of the ross ice shelf antarctica variations in the amplitude of radar echoes from the bottom of the grid western half of the ross ice shelf have been analyzed contrary to the results of a similar analysis performed for the grid eastern sector of the ice shelf bands of low signal strength downstream from both crary ice rise and the siple coast do not correlate with modern flow lines the difference in direction between the radar bands downstream of crary ice rise and the present velocity vectors and the absence of a comparable trend farther east suggest to us that the grounding line around crary ice rise retreated within the last 1000 years this hypothesis is reinforced by the observation of several domes and hollows in ice thickness downstream of crary ice rise which are similar to a hollow now located in the wake of the ice rise and a dome on its eastern flank we interprete this as evidence for a rapid increase in flow around the ice rise which carried downstream the ice topography formed around the ice rise similar but less detailed evidence found downstream of the siple coast suggests that there was a regional retreat of the west antarctic grounding line

rejuvenation of the fish canyon magma body a window into the evolution of large volume silicic magma systems voluminous unzoned phenocryst rich pyroclastic deposits considered as erupted batholiths provide a unique opportunity to investigate magmatic processes in silicic magmas the fish canyon tuff a well documented example of these monotonous ignimbrites displays evidence for simultaneous dissolution of feldspars 1 quartz and crystallization of hydrous phases during gradual near isobaric reheating from 720 to 760 8c these observations along with a high crystallinity 45 and near solidus mineral assemblage suggest that the fish canyon magma cooled to a rigid crystal mush before being partly remelted prior to eruption rejuvenation was triggered by intrusion of water rich mafic magmas at the base of the fish canyon mush but the mechanisms of heat transfer remain poorly understood the growth of amphibole during reheating requires addition of mafic components but the absence of any measurable gradients and the paucity of mafic enclaves in the fish canyon magma rule out a reheating event dominated by convective mixing with a mafic magma closed system processes such as heat conduction and convective self mixing could not account for the transport of externally derived mafic components we performed numerical simulations of upward percolation of a hot low density h2o co2 fluid phase gas sparging through a crystalline framework saturated with rhyolitic melt to assess the efficiency of such a process in rejuvenating silicic mushes in open systems sparging by 20 40 km 3 of gas extracted from 3000 km 3 of mafic magma is capable of reheating 7500 km 3 of silicic crystal mush by 40 8c in 150 200 k y moreover the vertical thermal gradient after 150 k y in most of the mush is small 25 8c in the upper 65 gas sparging also produces an increase in the internal pressure of silicic crystal mushes and may lead to the formation of crystal poor rhyolites by expelling interstitial melt however our simulations predict that filter pressing driven by sparging of externally derived gas could not solely account for the generation of the most voluminous rhyolites

evidence for volatile influenced differentiation in a layered alkali basalt flow penghu islands taiwan an approximately 20 m thick alkali basalt flow on the penghu islands contains 20 cm thick horizontally continuous 50 m vesicular layers separated by 1 5 m of massive basalt in its upper 8 5 m the three layers contain ocelli like vesicles filled with nepheline and igneous carbonate they are coarse grained and enriched in incompatible elements relative to the massive basalt with which they form sharp contacts these vesicular layers segregation veins formed when residual liquid in the underlying crystal mush was forced gas filter pressing or siphoned into three thermally induced horizontal cracks that opened successively in the advancing crystal mush of the flow s upper crust most vesicular layer trace elements can be modelled by residual melt extraction after 25 40 fractional crystallization of massive basalt underlying each layer sulphur cl as zn pb k na rb and sr show large concentration changes between the top middle and bottom layers with each vesicular and underlying massive basalt forming a chemically distinct pair the large changes between layers are difficult to account for by crystal fractionation alone because other incompatible elements e g la sm yb zr nb and the major elements change little the association of these elements s cl etc with fluids in various geologic environments suggests that volatiles influenced differentiation perhaps by moving alkali alkaline earth and chalcophile elements as magma dissolved volatile complexes volatiles may have also led to large grain sizes in the segregation veins by lowering melt viscosities and raising diffusion rates the chemical variability between layers indicates that a convection and concentration mechanism acted within the flow the specific process cannot be determined but different rates of vesicle plume rise through the flow and or accumulation in the upper crust s crystal mush might account for the chemical pairing and extreme variations in cl s as and c this study emphasizes the importance of sampling vesicular rocks in flows it also suggests that volatiles play important physical and chemical roles in rapidly differentiating mafic magmas in processes decoupled from crystal fractionation

on bimodal differentiation by solidification front instability in basaltic magmas part 1 basic mechanics extensive coarse grained silicic lenses are common in the upper portions of large diabase sills lava lakes and gabbroic intrusions these lenses which often contain up to 10 wt more silica than their host rocks record a clear process of bimodal differentiation that may play a fundamental role in generating significant quantities of silicic magma in predominantly basaltic systems the spatial compositional textural and contact relations suggest that these silicic segregations form by infilling of tears formed during gravitational instability of the upper solidification front this process is investigated in some detail by exploring the thermal and mechanical conditions leading to internal failure of the front and segregation formation as the upper solidification front grows inward and thickens the local strength of the developing crystalline network must increase upward through the front sufficiently fast to offset the increasing weight of the front itself this necessary local variation in strength dictates how crystallinity must vary to prevent failure but the actual variation in crystallinity is determined by phase equilibria which in general varies in a fashion that is noncovariant with that required for mechanical stability it is this mismatch that apparently leads to failure and formation of silicic segregations the rate of filling of the tears by porous flow of interstitial melt from below regulates the rate of tear opening and the overall size of the tears is regulated by the local rate of advance of the solidification front segregations therefore thicken downward as the growth of the front slows and then die out altogether with approach of the lower solidification front this process irreversibly introduces siliceous noise into basaltic systems the silicic signal can be enhanced through subsequent reprocessing of the host rock to form volumetrically important masses of silicic magma this process may be fundamental to achieving the strong compositional diversity of the igneous rocks to yielding continental masses and to the differentiation of earth itself

internal differentiation of kutsugata lava flow from rishiri volcano japan processes and timescales of segregation structures formation article i nfo internal differentiation processes in a solidifying lava flow were investigated for the kutsugata lava flow from rishiri volcano in northern japan in a representative 6 m thick lava flow that was investigated in detail in this study segregation products darker than the host lavas manifested mainly in the form of pipes vesicle cylinders and layers vesicle sheets occurring around 0 5 2 3 m and 2 0 4 0 m above the base respectively both the cylinders and sheets are significantly richer in incompatible elements such as tio2 and k2o than the host lavas which suggest that these products essentially represent residual melt produced during solidification of the lava flow field observation and the geochemical features of the lavas suggest that the vesicle cylinders grew upward from near the base of the flow by continuous feeding of residual melt from the neighboring host lavas to the heads of the cylinders on the other hand the vesicle sheets were produced in situ in the solidifying lava flow as fracture veins caused by horizontal compression the vesicle cylinders have a remarkably higher mgo content up to 8 wt than the host lava b6 wt whereas the vesicle sheets display mgo depletion as low as 3 5 wt the relatively high mgo content of the vesicle cylinders cannot be explained solely by the mechanical mixing of olivine phenocrysts with the residual melt it is suggested that the vesicle cylinders were produced by the extraction of olivine bearing interstitial melt from an augite plagioclase network in the host lava whereas the vesicle sheets were formed by the migration of the residual melt from a crystal network consisting of plagioclase augite and olivine in the host lava into platy fractures we infer that this selective crystal fractionation for forming the vesicle cylinders resulted from processes in which abundant vesicles rejected from the upward migrating floor solidification front prevented olivine crystals from being incorporated into the crystal network in the host lava the vesicle cylinders are considered to have formed in 1 day after the lava flow came to rest while relatively large vesicle sheets n1 cm thick appeared much later after 9 days the formation of these segregation products was essentially complete within 20 days after the lava emplacement

century scale discharge stagnation and reactivation of the ross ice streams west antarctica 1 flow features on the surface of the ross ice shelf west antarctica record two episodes of ice stream stagnation and reactivation within the last 1000 years we document these events using maps of streaklines emerging from individual ice streams made using visible band imagery together with numerical models of ice shelf flow forward model experiments demonstrate that only a limited set of discharge scenarios could have produced the current streakline configuration according to our analysis whillans ice stream ceased rapid flow about 850 calendar years ago and restarted about 400 years later and macayeal ice stream either stopped or slowed significantly between 800 and 700 years ago restarting about 150 years later until now ice stream scenarios emphasized runaway retreat or stagnation on millennial timescales here we identify a new scenario century scale stagnation and reactivation cycles as well as lateral communication with adjacent ice streams through thickness changes on lightly grounded ice plains this introduces uncertainty into predictions for future sea level withdrawals by the west antarctic ice sheet which are based in part on recent slowing of whillans ice stream and the stagnant condition of kamb ice stream