Stress‐driven melt segregation may have important geochemical and geophysical effects but remains a poorly understood process. Few constraints exist on the permeability and distribution of melt in deformed partially molten rocks. Here, we characterize the 3D melt network and resulting permeability of an experimentally deformed partially molten rock containing several melt‐rich bands based on an X‐ray microtomography data set. Melt fractions range from 0.08 to 0.28 in the ∼20‐μm‐thick melt‐rich bands, and from 0.02 to 0.07 in the intervening ∼30‐μm‐thick regions. We simulated melt flow through subvolumes extracted from the reconstructed rock at five length scales ranging from the grain scale (3 μm) to the minimum length required to fully encompass two melt‐rich bands (64 μm). At grain scale, few subvolumes contain interconnected melt, and permeability is isotropic. As the length scale increases, more subvolumes contain melt that is interconnected parallel to the melt bands, but connectivity diminishes in the direction perpendicular to them. Even if melt is connected in all directions, permeability is lower perpendicular to the bands, in agreement with the elongation of melt pockets. Permeability parallel to the bands is proportional to melt fraction to the power of an exponent that increases from ∼2 to 5 with increasing length scale. The permeability in directions parallel to the bands is comparable to that for an isotropic partially molten rock. However, no flow is possible perpendicular to the bands over distances similar to the band spacing. Melt connectivity limits sample scale melt flow to the plane of the melt‐rich bands.
We performed a series of extrusion experiments on partially molten samples of forsterite plus 10 vol% of an anorthite‐rich melt to investigate melt segregation in a pipe‐extrusion geometry and test the predictions of two‐phase flow theory with viscous anisotropy. The employed flow geometry has not been experimentally investigated for partially molten rocks; however, numerical solutions for a similar, pipe‐Poiseuille geometry are available. Samples were extruded from a 6‐mm diameter reservoir into a 2‐mm diameter channel under a fixed normal stress at 1350°C and 0.1 MPa. The melt distribution in the channel was subsequently mapped with optical and backscattered electron microscopy and analyzed via quantitative image analysis. Melt segregated from the center toward the outer radius of the channel. The melt fraction at the wall increased with increasing extrusion duration and with increasing shear stress. The melt fraction profiles are parabolic with the melt fraction at the wall reaching 0.17–0.66, values 2 to 16 times higher than at the channel center. Segregation of melt toward the wall of the channel is consistent with base‐state melt segregation as predicted by two‐phase flow theory with viscous anisotropy. However, melt‐rich sheets inclined at a low angle to the wall, which are anticipated from two‐phase flow theory, were not observed, indicating that the compaction length is larger than the channel diameter. The results of our experiments are a test of two‐phase flow theory that includes viscous anisotropy, an essential theoretical frame work needed for modeling large‐scale melt migration and segregation in the upper mantle.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1753482
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10456922
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1525-2027
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 2985-2996
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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