摘要

Tectonic extension and magmatism often act in concert to modify the thermal, mechanical, and chemical structure of the crust. Quantifying the effects of extension and magma flux on melting relationships in the crust is fundamental to determining the rate of crustal melting versus fractionation, magma residence time, and the growth of continental crust in rift environments. In order to understand the coupled control of tectonic extension and magma emplacement on crustal thermal evolution, we develop a numerical model that accounts for extension and thermal-petrographic processes in diverse extensional settings. We show that magma flux exerts the primary control on melt generation and tectonic extension amplifies the volume of melt residing in the crustal column. Diking into an extending crust produces hybrid magmas composed of 1) residual melt remaining after partial crystallization of basalt (mantle-derived melt) and 2) melt from partial melting of the crust (crustal melt). In an extending crust, mantle-derived melts are more prevalent than crustal melts across a range of magma fluxes, tectonic extension rates, and magmatic water contents. In most of the conditions, crustal temperatures do not reach their solidus temperatures to initiate partial melting of these igneous lithologies. Energy balance calculations show that the total enthalpy transported by dikes is primarily used for increasing the sensible heat of the cold surrounding crust with little energy contributing to latent heat of melting the crust (maximum crustal melting efficiency is 6%). In the lower crust, an extensive mush region develops for most of the conditions. Upper crustal crystalline mush is produced by continuous emplacement of magma with geologically reasonable flux and extension rates on timescales of 10(6) yr. Addition of tectonic effects and non-linear melt fraction relationships demonstrates that the magma flux required to sustain partially molten regions in the upper crust is within the range of estimates of magmatic flux in many rifting regions (similar to 10(-4) to 10(-3) km(3)/yr) and at least an order of magnitude lower than previous modeling estimates. Our results demonstrate the importance of tectonics in augmenting melt production, composition, and crustal evolution in active magmatic systems.

  • 出版日期2015-9-1