Kenyon, Patricia M. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1993

Trace elements in migrating high-temperature fluids: Effects of diffusive exchange with the adjoining solid

Trace element concentrations and isotopic ratios are frequently used to study the behavior of high-temperature fluids in both metamorphic and igneous systems. Many theoretical formulations of the effects of fluid migration on trace elements have assumed instantaneous reequilibration between the migrating fluid and the solid material through which it is passing. This paper investigates the additional effects which arise when equilibration is not instantaneous due to a limited rate of diffusion in the solid, using an analytical steady state solution to a set of partial differential equations describing the exchange of trace elements between the fluid and the solid during the migration of the fluid.

Kenyon, Patricia M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Trace element and isotopic effects arising from magma migration beneath mid-ocean ridges

The trace element concentrations and isotopic ratios in the magma erupted on mid-ocean ridges may differ from those in the source material due to physical effects such as porous flow dispersion, exchange of trace elements between the fluid and solid phases during magma migration, and convective mixing in magma chambers. These differences are in addition to those produced by better known processes such as fractional crystallization and partial melting. The effects of the three former processes are described. It is predicted that magma typically reaches the subridge magma chambers with a spatial heterogeneity only slightly reduced from that of the source material, but with a subdued variation in time. Convective mixing then further reduces the spatial heterogeneity. Application of the results for convective mixing to a recent Fourier analysis of Sr-87/Sr-86 variations along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge suggests that the falloff in amplitude of variation observed with decreasing wavelength in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge data cannot be explained by convective mixing in magma chambers. Instead, it is postulated that this falloff is due to the mechanics of the production and/or the solid-state convective mixing of chemical and isotopic heterogeneities in the solid mantle.

Kenyon, Patricia M.↗