MR23C-02
Lithologic melt partitioning and transport properties of partially molten harzburgite

Tuesday, 15 December 2015: 13:55
301 (Moscone South)
Kevin John Miller1, Wenlu Zhu1, Laurent Montesi1, Glenn A Gaetani2, Véronique Le Roux2 and Xianghui Xiao3, (1)University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, (2)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (3)Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, United States
Abstract:
Quantitative constraints on melt transport in upper mantle are critical to understanding various dynamic processes at ocean ridges. In this study, we propose that thermodynamic gradients, resulting from spatial variations in mineralogy, can unevenly partition melt between olivine and orthopyroxene (opx), the two most abundant minerals in the upper mantle. The lithologic melt partitioning leads to higher melt fraction in olivine-rich regions compared to opx-rich regions, which may have important implications for melt transport.

Lithologic partitioning has been experimentally confirmed in analogue systems, such as quartz/fluorite-H2O (Watson, 1999), but has never been observed in olivine/opx-melt samples. We synthesized olivine/opx-melt (harzburgite) samples by isostatically pressing oxide-high alumina basalt mixtures at 1350 °C and 1.5 GPa in a piston-cylinder apparatus. Nominal melt fractions of 0.02 to 0.20 and a constant 3 to 2 (olivine to opx) volume ratio were tested. Experimental charges were quenched, cored, and imaged using synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The resulting 3-D images constitute digital rock samples on which local melt fraction distributions, permeabilities, and electrical conductivities were numerically quantified.

Our results are strong evidence for melt partitioning between olivine and opx: local melt fractions are 10 to 50% higher around olivine than opx grains. At the same melt fraction, permeabilities of whole harzburgite samples are lower compared to monomineralic olivine-melt samples (Miller et al., 2014). However, the presence of opx negligibly affects the permeability-porosity relation unless the abundance of opx is more than 40 vol. %. In contrast, electrical conductivities of harzburgites are systematically lower than those of olivine-melt samples. Lithological melt partitioning could be another mechanism responsible for forming high-porosity melt pathways in addition to reaction infiltration instability and deformation melt bands.

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