Assimilation

Another method of creating different daughter magmas from a parent is by having the latter react with its wall rocks. Consider a magma that is crystallizing pyroxene and labradorite. If the magma tears from its wall minerals, say, olivine and anorthite, which are formed earlier than pyroxene and labradorite in the series, they will react with the liquid to form these same minerals with which the magma is in equilibrium. The heat for driving this reaction comes directly from the magma itself. More pyroxene and labradorite will crystallize during the reaction and will release their latent heats of crystallization. On the other hand, if a mineral (quartz, for example) formed at a later stage than pyroxene or labradorite falls from the rock wall into the magma, the latent heat provided by further crystallization of pyroxene and labradorite will cause it to dissolve. This situation will occur only if the quartz from the wall rock is at a lower temperature than the magma. It will cause the magma to transfer its heat to the quartz in a cooling process. The cooling of the magma will necessarily be accompanied by the crystallization of the minerals already present. In both cases, the composition of the parent magma will be changed by the xenolithic (foreign rock) contamination. The contaminant need not belong to the reaction series in order for it to cause reactions or dissolution. In most cases, the end result will be a shift from the original composition of the parent magma toward that of the contaminant. This process in which wall rocks are incorporated into the magma is called assimilation. Because assimilation is accompanied by crystallization, it is likely that both fractional crystallization and assimilation will take place simultaneously. This combined process, referred to as AFC for assimilation–fractional crystallization, has been proposed as the mechanism by which andesites are produced from basalts.

Effects of water and other volatiles

Water and most other volatile substances profoundly influence the properties and behaviour of magmas in which they are dissolved. They reduce viscosity, lower temperatures of crystallization by tens to hundreds of degrees, and participate directly in the formation of minerals that contain essential hydroxyl (OH) or elements such as the halogens. They also increase rates of crystallization and reaction, especially when they are present as a fluid phase distinct from the magma. In general, however, they have only a limited influence on the sequence of magmatic crystallization, except in the latest stages of the reaction series.

The relatively low confining pressures in volcanic environments permit ready escape of volatile constituents, which nonetheless leave their imprint in the form of special mineral assemblages and a variety of textural and structural features among the volcanic rocks. Under the higher pressures of plutonic environments, these constituents tend to be maintained in magmatic solution and to be increasingly concentrated as crystallization progresses with falling temperature. Few members of the reaction series require them as compositional contributors; water, for example, is not thus used until amphiboles or micas begin to form, and even then the amounts removed from the melt rarely are large. Escape of volatiles from the system can occur “osmotically” if the enclosing rocks are pervious to them but not to the magma, but in general they are fractionated in favour of the residual melt until their concentration reaches the limit of solubility under the prevailing conditions of temperature and effective confining pressure. When this happens, normally at a very late stage of magmatic crystallization, they are exsolved from the melt as a separate fluid phase that under most circumstances is a supercritical gas. This process has been referred to as resurgent boiling, a somewhat misleading term because the exsolved fluid is not necessarily expelled from the system.

Pegmatites and late-stage mineralization

Coexistence of residual magma and a volatile-rich fluid (generally aqueous) promotes the partitioning and segregation of constituents, as well as the growth of very large crystals. The exsolved fluid, with its very low viscosity, not only can move readily through open spaces in the nearly solid igneous rock and in adjacent rocks but also serves as a medium through which various substances can diffuse rapidly in response to concentration gradients. Thus, it plays an important role in the formation of such special rock types as the pegmatites and lamprophyres, special features such as miaroles and plumose mineral aggregates, and many kinds of ore deposits whose constituents are derived from the original magma.

Most plutonic systems remain at elevated temperatures for long periods of time after all magma has been used up, and during these periods hydrothermal conditions normally obtain. These depend upon the continued presence of a typically aqueous fluid that further facilitates crystallization and exchanges of materials. It speeds up exsolution within homogeneous solid phases and devitrification of any glass that may be present, and it is a potent agent in the alteration, leaching, and replacement of minerals. Rock textures thereby are modified, especially along boundaries between original mineral grains, and details of composition also can be much changed. In some instances the bulk chemistry of the rock is markedly affected.

The hydrothermal alterations favour development of phases such as albite, carbonates, chlorites, clay minerals, epidotes, iron oxides, micas, silica minerals, talc, and zeolites, and many of them are accompanied by gross changes in volume.