Book Details

Granite genesis: in-situ melting and crustal evolution

Publication year: 2007

ISBN: 978-1-4020-5891-2

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In this book we suggest an alternative model for the origin of granite in terms of in-situ meltingintracrustal convection that physically determines the process from partial melting of mid-upper crustal rocks to formation of a convecting magma layer. We illustrate the model using the geological, geochemical and geophysical studies from Australia, North and South America, Europe and China, and conclude that heat convection within a crustal partial melting layer is essential for formation of granite magma and that without convection, partial melting of rocks produces migmatites rather than granites. Granite is layer-like within the crust, and shape and size of granite bodies reflect the geometric relationship between an irregular upper surface of the crystallised magma layer and erosion surface. Repeated melting of the crust generates downward-younging granite sequences. Chemical and isotopic compositions of granites indicate differentiation within the magma rather than different deep sources.


Subject: Earth and Environmental Science, Deformation, Geoinformationssysteme, Granite origin, SE China, geochemistry, geophysics, in-situ melting, plate tectonics