Abstract
A condition is derived here for the onset of thermal convection in a layer of silicate partial melt that is generated by suddenly and continuously supplying an anomalous heat flux or by maintaining an anomalous high temperature on a plane at some depth within the Earth so that the overlying material is heated to greater-than-solidus temperatures. The results show that for highly fluid basaltic magmas convection may begin in a layer only 10-m thick, whereas for viscous rhyolitic magmas, at least a 10-km thick layer is required. The fact that thermal convection may occur within such a thin layer of basaltic partial melt may partially explain the homogeneity of large volumes of flood basalts that occur. Since convection within rhyolitic partial melts is unlikely, homogeneous rhyolites must be the result of mixing in magma chambers.
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