Geological Melts

Volume 87 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry covers fundamental aspects of the nature of silicate melts and the implications for the systems in which they participate, both technological and natural. The contents of this volume may perhaps best be summarized as structure – properties – dynamics. The volume contains syntheses of short and medium range order, structure-property relationships, and computation-based simulations of melt structure. It continues with analyses of the properties (mechanical, diffusive, thermochemical, redox, nucleation, rheological) of melts. The dynamic behavior of melts in magmatic and volcanic systems, is then treated in the context of their behavior in magma mixing, strain localization, frictional melting, magmatic fragmentation, and hot sintering. Finally, the non-magmatic, extraterrestrial and prehistoric roles of melt and glass are presented in their respective contexts.

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts: Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex presents a current state of understanding on the geology and ore deposits of the Sudbury Igneous Complex in Ontario, Canada. As the first complete reference on the subject, this book explores the linkage between the processes of meteorite impact, melt sheet formation, differentiation, sulfide immiscibility and metal collection, and the localization of ores by magmatic and post-magmatic processes. The discovery of new ore deposits requires industry and government scientists and academic scholars to have access to the latest understanding of ore formation process models that link to the mineralization of their host rocks. The ore deposits at Sudbury are one of the world’s largest ore systems, representing a classic case study that brings together very diverse datasets and ways of thinking. This book is designed to emphasize concepts that can be applied across a broad range of ore deposit types beyond Sudbury and nickel deposit geology. It is an essential resource for exploration geologists, university researchers, and government scientists, and can be used in rock and mineral analysis, remote sensing, and geophysical applications. Provides the only reference book to focus entirely on the Sudbury Igneous Complex Brings together an understanding of ore deposit and impact melts as a basis for future exploration Authored by a leading expert on the geology of the Sudbury Igneous Complex with 35 years of experience working on nickel sulfide ore deposits

Volume 72 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents an extensive compilation of the material presented by the invited speakers at a short course on Diffusion in Minerals and Melts held prior (December 11-12, 2010) to the Annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California. The short course was held at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel and Spa in Napa, California and was sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America and the Geochemical Society.

Volume 73 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents a compilation of the material presented by the invited speakers at a short course on August 21-23, 2011 called Sulfur in Magmas and Melts and its Importance for Natural and Technical Processes held at the Hotel der Achtermann, in Goslar, Germany following the 2011 Goldschmidt Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. It covers Studies of sulfur in melts - motivations and overview, Analytical methods for sulfur determination in glasses, rocks, minerals and fluid inclusions, Spectroscopic studies on sulfur speciation in synthetic and natural glasses, Diffusion and redox reactions of sulfur in silicate melts, The role of sulfur compounds in coloring and melting kinetics of industrial glass, Experimental studies on sulfur solubility in silicate melts at near-atmospheric pressure and Modeling the solubility of sulfur in magmas: a 50-year old geochemical challenge.

Volume 32 of Reviews in Mineralogy introduces the basic concepts of melt physics and relaxation theory as applied to silicate melts, then to describe the current state of experimental and computer simulation techniques for exploring the detailed atomic structure and dynamic processes which occur at high temperature, and finally to consider the relationships between melt structure, thermodynamic properties and rheology within these liquids. These fundamental relations serve to bridge the extrapolation from often highly simplified melt compositions studied in the laboratory to the multicomponent systems found in nature. This volume focuses on the properties of simple model silicate systems, which are usually volatile-free. The behavior of natural magmas has been summarized in a previous Short Course volume (Nicholls and Russell, editors, 1990: Reviews in Mineralogy, Vol. 24), and the effect of volatiles on magmatic properties in yet another (Carroll and Holloway, editors, 1994: Vol. 30). The Mineralogical Society of America sponsored a short course for which this was the text at Stanford University December 9 and 10, 1995, preceding the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union and MSA in San Fransisco, with about 100 professionals and graduate students in attendance.

In Earth evolution, mountain belts are the loci of crustal growth, reworking and recycling. These crustal-scale processes are unravelled through microscale investigations of textures and mineral assemblages of metamorphic rocks. Multiple episodes of metamorphism, re-equilibration and deformation, however, generally produce a complex and tightly interwoven pattern of microstructures and assemblages. Over the last two decades, the combination of advanced computing and technological capabilities with new concepts has provided a vast array of novel petrological tools and high-resolution/high-sensitivity techniques for microanalysis and imaging. Such novel approaches are proving fundamental to untangling the enigma represented by metamorphism with an unprecedented level of detail and confidence. As a result, the first decade and a half of this century has already seen the tumultuous development of new research avenues in metamorphic petrology. This book aims to provide a timely overview of the state of the art of this field, of newly developed petrological techniques, future advancements and significant new case studies.