Dendritic crystallization in hydrous basaltic magmas controls magma mobility within the Earth’s crust

The majority of basaltic magmas stall in the Earth’s crust as a result of the rheological evolution caused by crystallization during transport. However, the relationships between crystallinity, rheology and eruptibility remain uncertain because it is difficult to observe dynamic magma crystallizatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2022-06, Vol.13 (1), p.3354-3354, Article 3354
Main Authors: Arzilli, Fabio, Polacci, Margherita, La Spina, Giuseppe, Le Gall, Nolwenn, Llewellin, Edward W., Brooker, Richard A., Torres-Orozco, Rafael, Di Genova, Danilo, Neave, David A., Hartley, Margaret E., Mader, Heidy M., Giordano, Daniele, Atwood, Robert, Lee, Peter D., Heidelbach, Florian, Burton, Mike R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
147/135
704/2151/431
704/2151/598
Aspect ratio
Crystal growth
Crystallization
Dendritic structure
Earth crust
Evolution
Growth kinetics
High temperature
High temperature effects
Humanities and Social Sciences
Magma
Mathematical models
Mobility
multidisciplinary
Numerical models
Pyroxenes
Rheological properties
Rheology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Supercooling
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Summary:The majority of basaltic magmas stall in the Earth’s crust as a result of the rheological evolution caused by crystallization during transport. However, the relationships between crystallinity, rheology and eruptibility remain uncertain because it is difficult to observe dynamic magma crystallization in real time. Here, we present in-situ 4D data for crystal growth kinetics and the textural evolution of pyroxene during crystallization of trachybasaltic magmas in high-temperature experiments under water-saturated conditions at crustal pressures. We observe dendritic growth of pyroxene on initially euhedral cores, and a surprisingly rapid increase in crystal fraction and aspect ratio at undercooling ≥30 °C. Rapid dendritic crystallization favours a rheological transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian behaviour within minutes. We use a numerical model to quantify the impact of rapid dendritic crystallization on basaltic dike propagation, and demonstrate its dramatic effect on magma mobility and eruptibility. Our results provide insights into the processes that control whether intrusions lead to eruption or not. In situ 4D experiments at high temperature and moderate pressure reveal that rapid dendritic crystallization in hydrous basaltic magmas promotes a rheological transition within minutes, controlling magma mobility within the Earth’s crust.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-30890-8