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Pegmatites are shallow, coarse-grained magmatic intrusions with crystals occasionally approaching meters in length. Compared to their plutonic hosts, pegmatites are thought to have cooled rapidly, suggesting that these large crystals must have grown fast. Growth rates and conditions, however, remain poorly constrained. Here we investigate quartz crystals and their trace element compositions from miarolitic cavities in the Stewart pegmatite in southern California, USA, to quantify crystal growth rates. Trace element concentrations deviate considerably from equilibrium and are best explained by kinetic effects associated with rapid crystal growth. Kinetic crystal growth theory is used to show that crystals accelerated from an initial growth rate of 10−6–10−7 m s−1 to 10−5–10−4 m s−1 (10-100 mm day−1 to 1–10 m day−1), indicating meter sized crystals could have formed within days, if these rates are sustained throughout pegmatite formation. The rapid growth rates require that quartz crystals grew from thin (micron scale) chemical boundary layers at the fluid-crystal interfaces. A strong advective component is required to sustain such thin boundary layers. Turbulent conditions (high Reynolds number) in these miarolitic cavities are shown to exist during crystallization, suggesting that volatile exsolution, crystallization, and cavity generation occur together. 

Archaean orbicular granitoids from western Australia were investigated to better understand crystal growth processes. The orbicules are dioritic to tonalitic spheroids dispersed in a granitic host magma. Most orbicules have at least two to three concentric bands composed of elongate and radially oriented hornblendes with interstitial plagioclase. Each band consists of a hornblende-rich outer layer and a plagioclase-rich inner layer. Doublet band thicknesses increase, crystal number density decreases, and grain size increases from rim to core, suggesting crystallization was more rapid on the rims than in the core. Despite these radial differences, mineral mode and bulk composition of each band are similar, indicating limited crystal-melt segregation during crystallization. These observations lead us to suggest that the orbicules represent slowly quenched blobs of hot dioritic to tonalitic liquids injected into a cooler granitic magma. The oscillatory bands in the orbicules can be explained by rapid, disequilibrium crystallization (supercooling). In particular, a linear correlation between bandwidth and radial distance from orbicule rim can be explained by transport-limited crystallization, wherein crystallization timescales are shorter than chemical diffusion timescales. The slope of this linear relationship corresponds to the square root of the ratio between effective chemical diffusivity in the growth medium and thermal diffusivity, resulting in effective chemical diffusivities of 3 × 10−8 m2/s. These high effective diffusivities require static diffusion through a free volatile phase (fluid) and/or a strong advective/convective component in the fluid. Regardless of the mechanisms, these effective diffusivities can be used to estimate growth rates of ~10−6 m/s or 0.4 cm/hr. Our results indicate that crystals can grow rapidly, possibly facilitated by fluids and dynamic conditions. These rapid growth rates suggest that centimetre or larger crystals, such as in porphyritic and pegmatitic systems, can conceivably grow within days.