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Partial melting of crustal and mantle rocks under pressure from impedance spectroscopy measurements
(2004)
The purpose of this work is to achieve a better understanding of the physical properties of rocks during partial melting processes. The electrical conductivity of some crustal and upper mantle rocks was measured prior and above the melting under pressure. The variations of the electrical conductivity were compared with the distribution of melt in partially molten rock samples. The electrical conductivity was estimated from the impedance spectroscopy at temperatures between 800 and 1450˚C and at pressures between 0.3 and 2 GPa. These measurements were performed in a piston cylinder apparatus. At temperatures above the melting, samples were equilibrated during a long time and subsequently quenched. Thin sections were prepared and topology, volume fraction and chemical composition of melt was analyzed by using a microprobe. Above the solidus temperature, the electrical conductivity increases for about 1 to 2 orders of magnitude in comparison with non-melted rocks. The "melt effect" seems to reflect the formation of an interconnected network of melt. When a complete melt connectivity is established, the charge transport follows the network of the formed melt films at grain boundaries. Usually, it takes a long time in order to reach a steady state of the electrical resistance in partially molten rocks. Only when a steady state of the electrical resistance is achieved, the bulk conductivity of a sample can be measured properly. The time-independent electrical conductivity were found only after 200 h of annealing time at a desired temperature.
Usually, the measurements of a dihedral angle on grain-liquid interfaces in rocks show that the wetting of grain faces start to develop at temperatures slightly above the solidus temperature. The development of these faces should lead to a continuous melt network even at small melt fractions of few wt.%. This result is not confirmed by our electrical conductivity measurements. The complete interconnection of the melt phase, which was mark by an increase of the electrical conductivity, corresponds to a temperature significantly above the solidus temperature, for at least 30-50˚C. The development of these faces stimulate a significant increase of the electrical conductivity, and corresponds to the occurence of at least 5 wt.% of a melt fraction. This result could be explained by deviations from the textural equilibrium of a melt phase topology in partially molten samples due to heterogeneous grain size distribution, misorientation of grains and anisotropy of the superficial energy of adjacent grain boundaries.
Some mixing models that allow to calculate the electrical conductivity of a composite as a function of a melt fraction were examined and the results of these calculations are discussed.
The experimental results were compared to the conductivity data obtained from magnetotelluric and electromagnetic measurements in the Northern part of mid-Atlantic ridge where a series of magma chambers are presumably located. There is a good agreement between our conductivity values for a melt fraction of 10-13 the conductivity estimated in the Reykjanes ridge zone.