Melt migration in a silicate liquid-olivine system: An experimental test of compaction theory

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/GL017i012p02101· OSTI ID:5542057

Riley, Jr, G N; Kohlstedt, D L ^[1]; Richter, F M ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis (USA)
2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (USA)

To investigate the kinetics of porous flow in partially molten peridotite, a melt migration couple - formed from a disc of fine-grained olivine plus {approximately}15% of a synthetic K-Al silicate glass and a disc of polycrystalline olivine - was heated at 1,255C under a confining pressure of 300 MPa for 2 hr. Driven by capillary forces, silicate liquid in the source disc infiltrates along three-grain junctions into the sink disc. To analyze the resulting melt migration profile in terms of compaction theory, the equations developed by McKenzie (1984) to describe porous flow of a liquid in a deformable matrix were modified by replacing the buoyancy force term with a capillary force term. The governing equations were then solved numerically with the governing equations were then solved numerically with the initial and boundary conditions specified by the experimental design. Comparison of the melt migration profile obtained from the experiment with those generated by numerical simulation demonstrates that compaction theory provides a good description of the experimental results provided that the permeability of these solid-liquid materials increases linearly with increasing liquid fraction.

• OSTI ID: 5542057
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA), Vol. 17:12; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
MOLTEN SALTS
DIFFUSION
SILICATE MINERALS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CAPILLARY FLOW
DEFORMATION
EARTH MANTLE
OLIVINE
PERIDOTITES
PERMEABILITY
POROUS MATERIALS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
FLUID FLOW
IGNEOUS ROCKS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SILICATES
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
MAGNESIUM SILICATES
MATERIALS
MINERALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIC ROCKS
ROCKS
SALTS
SILICATES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
580000* - Geosciences