Kinetics of magma crystallization: origin of igneous textures

Magma differentiation by crystal fractionation is the fundamental mechanisms producing chemical diversity of the Earth’s oceanic and continental crust, and of all igneous bodies. The processes, which involve crystal nucleation and growth, crystal-melt mechanical interactions, dictate rheology of magma suspensions and hence control efficiency of the magmatic differentiation. These kinetic processes is recorded in size and spatial parameters of magmatic texture. We develop a set of high-resolution imulation algorithms, which simulate evolution of igneous texture and mechanical interactions in cooling silicate magmas. When coupled with thermomechanical models, we can propose a new dynamic typology of plutonic bodies.

Collaborators: Václav Špillar (Prague), Hana Ditterová (Potsdam)
Representative publications: Štemprok et al. (2008), Špillar & Dolejš (2013, 2014, 2015a, 2015b)