The Grain-Scale Distribution of Silicate, Carbonate and Metallosulfide Partial Melts: a Review of Theory and Experiments

Abstract

In a partially molten rock containing a low melt fraction, the permeability and consequently the dynamics of melt segregation are strongly sensitive to the distribution of the melt at the grain scale. Melt distribution is controlled by a variety of factors such as the minimization of interfacial energies, the stress regime and different aspects of the melting reaction (melting rate, volume change on melting, spatial distribution of the reactants). Due to the long duration of large-scale melting events, an equilibrium melt configuration corresponding to a minimum total interfacial energy per unit volume should commonly be approached. In this chapter, we review the theoretical and experimental studies devoted to the equilibrium distribution of melt in a partially molten rock.