Calculating Pressures of Formation Using Chemical Analyses of Glasses from Transform Faults along the East Pacific Rise
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Date
2016-08
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Magma crystallization properties and processes are under-studied and are not well understood in transform faults at mid-ocean ridges. Some crystallization pressures that have been calculated along the East Pacific Rise are very high when compared to eruptions on normal ridge segments, but the magmas do follow normal crystallization trends. Overall we do not know the exact conditions of crystallization for magmas along transform faults. This research focuses on the Blanco, Clipperton, and Siqueros transform faults. By analyzing data that were collected for eruptions along these three transform faults in the East Pacific Rise, we calculated crystallization pressures and compared them to known data and to each other to understand the processes occurring at depth. Results showed that these magmas have pressures within the expected range for intra-crustal crystallization, and they also show evidence for magma evolution associated with normal crystallization processes. Some samples had extremely high partial crystallization pressures, but they also had inconsistent and unusual chemical characteristics, so they cannot be assumed to have recorded the actual pressure of crystallization.
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Keywords
East Pacific Rise, Magma, Baslt Crystallization, Oxide chemistry