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TEXTURAL AND MICROANALYSIS OF IGNEOUS ROCKS: TOOLS ...

TEXTURAL AND MICROANALYSIS OF IGNEOUS ROCKS: TOOLS ...

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primitive magma compositions recorded in OJP plagioclase are not fully met in<br />

a homogenous magma body and require more confined environments such as a<br />

crystal mush layers e.g., [84, 98, 123].<br />

2.6.2 OJP Magma Chambers, Mush Layers, and Solidification Fronts<br />

Sano and Yamashita [123] suggested zoned plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and<br />

olivine crystals in Kwaimbaita basalts formed as they moved between crystal<br />

mush boundary layers (solidification fronts) and the main magma body. Bound-<br />

ary mush layers are rheological elements of multiply saturated solidification fronts<br />

defined as having crystallinities between 25% and 50%-55% [98]. Crystallization<br />

within the mush zone produces interstitial melts that are evolved relative to the<br />

magma in the chamber interior, and continued crystallization traps these evolved<br />

melts within the solidification front [84, 98]. Mineral phases with compositions<br />

out of equilibrium with main magma body grow within the mush zone of the so-<br />

lidification front where they are thermally and mechanically insulated from the<br />

hotter magma chamber interior [84]. Early formed crystals that potentially con-<br />

tain chemical signatures of relatively primitive magmas may also exist in the rigid<br />

crust of the solidification front near the solidus. Solidification fronts thicken over<br />

time due to crystal nucleation and growth but may also thicken by capturing<br />

crystals carried within new batches of magma. Capture of crystals by the advanc-<br />

ing solidification front is greatest along the magma chamber floor due to crystal<br />

settling, and the thickness of these cumulates in any given magma chamber may<br />

grow to be quite large if repeated transit and storage of crystal carrying magmas<br />

occurs from other magma chambers [98]. Crystal debris may be mobilized from<br />

mushy cumulate layers and solidification fronts by erosion, density and convec-<br />

77

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