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Magma and Igneous Rocks “Granites”

Previous Class: Drivers of Plate Tectonics &


Divergent/Convergent/Transform Plate Boundaries
Last Class: Review

1.  Plate boundaries


2.  Convergent/Divergent/ Transform plate
boundaries
3.  Hot Spots and Mantle plume
4.  Drivers of plate movement
5.  Direction of plate movement
6.  How do we measure plate Movements
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I. Passive continental margins
ú  Found along most coastal areas that
surround the Atlantic Ocean
ú  Not associated with plate boundaries
ú  Experience little volcanism and few
earthquakes

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¨  Features comprising a passive continental margin
ú  Continental shelf
­  Flooded extension of the continent
­  Varies greatly in width (average = 80 km)
­  Gently sloping
­  Contains important mineral deposits
­  Some areas are mantled by extensive glacial deposits.

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¨  Features comprising a passive continental margin
ú  Continental slope
­  Marks the seaward edge of the continental shelf
­  Relatively steep structure (5O – 25O)
­  Boundary between continental crust and oceanic crust

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¨  Features comprising a passive continental margin
ú  Continental rise
­  Found in regions where trenches are absent
­  A continental slope merges into a more gradual incline—
the continental rise.
­  Thick accumulation of sediment
­  At the base of the continental slope, turbidity currents
deposit sediment that forms deep-sea fans.

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II. Active continental margins
ú  The continental slope descends abruptly into a
deep-ocean trench.
ú  Located primarily around the Pacific Ocean

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- Accumulations of deformed sediment and
scraps of ocean crust form accretionary wedges.
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I. Deep-ocean trench
ú  Long, relatively narrow features
ú  Deepest parts of ocean
ú  Most are located in the Pacific Ocean.
ú  Sites where moving lithospheric plates plunge
into the mantle
ú  Associated with volcanic activity
ú  Often paralleled by arc-shaped row of active
volcanoes (volcanic island arc; continental
volcanic arc)
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II. Abyssal plains
ú  Likely the most level places on Earth
ú  Sites of thick accumulations of sediment
ú  Found in all oceans

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¨  Why are oceanic ridges elevated?
ú  The primary reason is because newly created
oceanic lithosphere is hot and occupies more
volume than cooler rocks.
ú  As the basaltic crust travels away from the
ridge crest, it is cooled by seawater.
ú  As the lithosphere moves away, it thermally
contracts and becomes more dense.

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¨  Spreading rates and ridge topography
ú  Ridge systems exhibit topographic
differences.
ú  Topographic differences are controlled by
spreading rates.
­  At slow spreading rates (1 to 5 centimeters per
year), a prominent rift valley develops along the
ridge crest that is usually 30 to 50 kilometers across
and 1500 to 3000 meters deep.
­  Mid-Atlantic; Mid-Indian

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¨  Spreading rates and ridge topography
ú  Topographic differences are controlled by
spreading rates.
­  At intermediate spreading rates (5 to
9 centimeters per year), rift valleys that develop
are shallow and less than 200 meters deep (e.g.,
Galapagos Ridge)
­  At spreading rates greater than 9 cm / year, no
median rift valley develops and these areas are
usually narrow and extensively faulted (e.g., East
Pacific Rise)

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Throughout the earth’s geologic past, there have been episodes of massive
outpourings of basaltic lavas on the ocean floor and on continents. The
large plateaus that were formed by such volcanism have been variously
called flood-basalt provinces or large igneous provinces

It is believed that episodically large plume “heads” rise from the deep mantle
and melt when they reach the base of the lithosphere. Such melts or magmas
give rise to large igneous provinces, such as the Deccan Traps of India.
¨  Igneous rocks form as molten rock cools and
solidifies.
¨  General characteristics of magma:
ú  Parent material of igneous rocks
ú  Forms from partial melting of rocks
ú  Magma at surface is called lava.

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¨  General characteristics of magma:
ú  Rocks formed from lava are extrusive, or
volcanic rocks.
ú  Rocks formed from magma at depth are
intrusive, or plutonic rocks.

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¨  The nature of magma
ú  Consists of three components:
1.  Liquid portion = melt
2.  Solids, if any, are silicate minerals.
3.  Volatiles are dissolved gases in the melt,
including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide
(CO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

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¨  Texture is the overall appearance of a rock
based on the size, shape, and arrangement of
interlocking minerals.
¨  Factors affecting crystal size:
ú  Rate of cooling
­  Slow rate = fewer but larger crystals
­  Fast rate = many small crystals
­  Very fast rate forms glass.

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¨  Types of igneous textures
ú  Aphanitic (fine-grained) texture
­  Rapid rate of cooling
­  Microscopic crystals
­  May contain vesicles (holes from gas bubbles)
ú  Phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture
­  Slow cooling
­  Large, visible crystals

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¨  Igneous rocks are composed primarily of silicate
minerals.
ú  Dark (or ferromagnesian) silicates
­  Olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite mica
ú  Light (or nonferromagnesian) silicates
­  Quartz, muscovite mica, and feldspars

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¨  Granitic versus basaltic compositions
ú  Granitic composition
­  Light-colored silicates
­  Termed felsic (feldspar and silica) in composition
­  High silica (SiO2) content
­  Major constituent of continental crust

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¨  Granitic versus basaltic compositions
ú  Basaltic composition
­  Dark silicates and calcium-rich feldspar
­  Termed mafic (magnesium and ferrum, for iron) in
composition
­  Higher density than granitic rocks
­  Comprise the ocean floor and many volcanic
islands

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Classifications of Igneous Rocks : Plutonic
rocks are classified on the basis of
mineralogy and texture
Classification of Mafic and Ultramafic rocks.
QAPF classification of felsic plutonic rocks.
Classification of Volcanic Rocks

Volcanic rocks are classified on the basis of


their major element chemistry
Remember!!!!!

Density
Viscosity
Magma Generation, Segregation, and
Magma Generation, Segregation, and
Evolution
Evolution
Under favorable thermal conditions, magma may form in the
crust or upper mantle. Such magma must somehow segregate
from the source rock, and form larger pools that will ascend
toward the surface.
The Sources of Magmas
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1. Temperature

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2. Role of pressure (Decompression Melting)
­  Increases in confining pressure increases a rock’s melting
temperature.
­  When confining pressures drop, decompression melting
occurs.
3. Role of volatiles
­  Volatiles (primarily water) cause melting at lower
temperatures.
­  Important factor where oceanic lithosphere descends into
the mantle

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Vola&les
Water Content

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Questions

1.  How Earth’s internal structure formed?


2.  What is the relation of plate movements to magmatism?
3.  What is a Large Igneous Province?
4.  What is a hotspot or plume?
5.  How do we know about upper mantle composition?
6.  What is subduction?
7.  On what basis the volcanic rocks are classified?
8.  …………………
Viscosity (η) of a magma is simply
defined as its internal resistance to
flow and is given as:
η =σ/ε

σ=Shear Stress
ε=Shear Strain

Crystal-free basalt magmas show


Newtonian behavior. On the other
hand a basalt or andesitic magma
containing abundant crystals may
behave like a Bingham plastic - that
is, they may possess some finite
yield strength and thus flow only
when a certain threshold value of
stress has been exceeded. Rhyolitic
magmas exhibit pseudoplastic
behavior in that it shows a non-linear
relationship between stress and
strain rate.
Densities of different magmas have
been measured in the laboratory,
!"#
mostly at atmospheric pressure, and
89:89*-;8)
89+
they vary between 2.2 and 3.1 g/cm3.
Density of magma is directly related to
&'()*+,-./012%-3

+<=9'**+
'
!"$ the abundance of the mafic (i.e., Mg +
Fe) component.
8(>')*+'

!"%
Consider a simple example of buoyant
rise of a x magma from a depth of 60
?<,=9*+' km to the surface. We assume that
the wall rock at ~60-40 km is y with a
!"4
544 6444 6!44 6744 density of 3.3 g/cm3. The magma’s
density is assumed to be constant at
2.9 g/cm3.
P = ρgh
where P is pressure (in GPa), ρ is density, and g is acceleration due to gravity (assumed to
be constant with a value of 980 cm/sec2).
Prock at 60 km = (60,000,00 * 3.3 * 980)/1010 = 1.94 GPa
Pmagma at 60 km = (60,000,00*2.9*980)/1010 = 1.70 Gpa

Therefore, the pressure difference of 0.24 GPa between the magma and wall rock makes the
magma sufficiently buoyant to rise to the surface.
¨  A single volcano may extrude lavas exhibiting
very different compositions.
¨  Bowen’s reaction series
ú  Minerals crystallize in a systematic fashion
based on their melting points.
ú  During crystallization, the composition of the
liquid portion of the magma continually
changes.

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¨  Processes responsible for changing a magma’s
composition
ú  Magmatic differentiation
­  Separation of a melt from earlier formed crystals
­  Earlier-formed minerals sink toward the bottom of
the magma chamber due to high density (crystal
settling)
ú  Assimilation
­  Changing a magma’s composition by
incorporating surrounding rock bodies into a
magma

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Fractional Crystallization

Crystal Settling and Crystal Flotation

Schematic diagram showing


settling of olivine (with curved
fractures) and pyroxene (with
cleavage) to the bottom of magma
(dark). b. Flotation of plagioclase
crystals in magma. c. A
hypothetical case of crystallization
in a large sill in which olivine and
pyroxene layers at the bottom are
formed due to early settling of
olivine crystals followed by
pyroxene settling. Plagioclase
flotation forms a plagioclase-rich
layer at the top. (d) Schematic
variation in mode and chemical
composition within the sill.
Flowage Differentiation
!"#$"%&'()
&'()%*+,-(./

In some cases
crystals may be
concentrated in the
center of a moving
magma body as the
magma flows
through a dike or a
sill, a process known
a s f l o w a g e
differentiation…and
many more
¨  Processes responsible for changing a magma’s
composition
ú  Magma mixing
­  Two chemically distinct magmas may produce a
composition quite different from either original
magma.

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¨  Partial melting and magma formation
ú  Incomplete melting of rocks is known as
partial melting.
ú  Formation of basaltic magmas
­  Most originate from partial melting of mantle
rocks at oceanic ridges
­  Large outpourings of basaltic magma are common
at Earth’s surface
­  Primitive / primary magmas

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¨  Partial melting and magma formation
ú  Formation of andesitic magmas
­  Produced by interaction of basaltic magmas and
more silica-rich rocks in the crust
­  May also evolve by magmatic differentiation
­  Evolved / secondary magmas

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¨  Partial melting and magma formation
ú  Formation of granitic magmas
­  Most likely form as the end product of
crystallization of andesitic magma
­  Granitic magmas are more viscous than other
magmas—tend to lose their mobility before
reaching the surface.
­  Produce large plutonic structures

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