Rheology of bimodal crystals suspensions: Results from analogue experiments and implications for magma ascent

Abstract

The effect of crystal size of bimodal suspensions on rheology of magmas at strain rates between 0 and 1 s−1 is studied. Suspensions consist of silicon oil and two populations of natural crystals with size 63–125 and 250–500 µm mixed in different proportions; the total solid fraction ϕ of the mixtures is between 0.25 and 0.5. At ϕ ≤ 0.4, finer, coarser, and bimodal suspensions display comparable viscosities. At ϕ ≥ 0.4, the viscosity of the bimodal suspensions is larger than that of the unimodal ones. The bimodal suspension, made mainly of finer crystals, shows a stronger increase of viscosity with ϕ. The addition of finer crystals to a suspension of coarser ones produces a more pronounced increase of viscosity with respect to suspensions of coarse or fine crystals alone, and of finer crystals with added coarser ones. The bimodal suspensions of coarser crystals develops yield stress at ϕ ≥ 0.25, the others at ϕ ≥ 0.4. It is modeled the ascent velocity in a 20 m wide dike of magmas with bimodal and unimodal populations of crystals of different size. For ϕ ≤ 0.4, the crystal size has not effects on the ascent velocity of magmas. For ϕ ≥ 0.4, the velocity of a magma with growing phenocrystals decreases as ϕ increases less than that of a magma with forming microlites, and more of a magma with microlites and growing phenocrystals. A magma with phenocrystals and forming microlites has the lowest ascent velocity.