Summary: An analysis of variations in
isentropic melt productivity
B y P. D. Asimow1
, M. M. Hirschmann1,2
and E. M. Stolper1
1
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
2
Department of Geology, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
The amount of melt generated per unit pressure drop during adiabatic upwelling,
the isentropic melt productivity, cannot be determined directly from experiments
and is commonly assumed to be constant or to decrease as melting progresses. From
analysis of one- and two-component systems and from calculations based on a ther-
modynamic model of peridotite partial melting, we show that productivity for re-
versible adiabatic (i.e. isentropic) depressurization melting is never constant; rather,
productivity tends to increase as melting proceeds. Even in a one-component system
with a univariant solid­liquid boundary, the 1/T dependence of (S/T)P and the
downward curvature of the solidus (due to greater compressibility of liquids relative

Source: Asimow, Paul D. - Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology,

Collections: Geosciences