User friendly codes for the generalized application of diffusion chronometry
Concepts related to storage and transport of magma have undergone major changes in recent years, so that systems with a lot of crystals and some melt (= so called magma mush zones) have gained prominence. These zones are now known to evolve rapidly (i.e. on relatively short timescales of days, months and years) through different stages during the processes of melt formation at source, segregation, transport, intermediate storages, and final emplacement and eruption. It is possible to determine the timescales of these processes using different tools of diffusion chronometry (e.g. different elements, different minerals).
It is necessary to develop modelling tools that can be used by a wide range of petrologists and volcanologists to tap into this immense potential. In particular, it would be useful to have tools that consider the diffusion of multiple elements in different minerals simultaneously, in a self-consistent manner.
The proposed research in this project aims to develop such tools, and will evolve along three parallel lines: (a) development of existing modelling tools into robust, user-friendly software packages that may be distributed, (b) development of numerical modelling methods that have not yet been widely used – here, new physical processes will be considered, including some that would come out of the results obtained from this research unit and (c) evaluation of errors and uncertainties in timescales obtained by diffusion chronometry.
Investigators
Evgeny Pogorelov, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Rebecca deGraffenried, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Sumit Chakraborty, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
supported by
Ed Bolton, Yale University USA.