• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Study proves that magma chambers can be totally molten

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 9, 2020
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

The study challenges a recently-emerged paradigm that magma chambers are huge masses of crystals with just a very small amount of melt.

IMAGE

Credit: Wits University

Wits University (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) PhD student, Willem Kruger’s study on the state of magma within plutonic magmatic systems in the Earth’s crust has been published in the high impact journal, Nature Communications.

Working alongside his PhD supervisor, Professor Rais Latypov, from the Wits School of Geosciences, Kruger’s paper shows that basaltic magma chambers may develop as large bodies of crystal-free melts in the Earth’s crust. This study challenges a recently-emerged paradigm that magma chambers are huge masses of crystal-rich mush – in other words, crystals with just a very small amount of melt.

Attempts to understand the processes that operate in magma chambers in our planet’s crust is incredibly challenging as they are hidden from direct observations. Geologists must follow an indirect approach to study these features, such as examining their ancient fossilised remains that are exposed on Earth’s surface after millions of years of erosion.

To examine the state of magma within a chamber is very demanding, as it requires the study of the very contact between the crystallising margins of magma bodies (also called solidification fronts) and their liquid interiors.

Difficulties in understanding the behaviour of solidification fronts can fortunately be overcome by studying a particularly fascinating rock type, called massive magnetitite, from the Bushveld Complex in South Africa.

“Magnetitite contains chromium that is an extremely sensitive indicator of magma chamber processes and can be used to study solidification fronts in extreme detail,” says Kruger.

“By mapping the distribution of chromium in magnetitite in the field we can observe the two-dimensional propagation patterns of solidification fronts on a scale never done before.”

Kruger and Latypov found that all evolved liquid is effectively removed from the solidification front of magnetitite as it propagates towards the chamber interior. “This is because of extremely effective compositional convection that occurs during the crystallisation of magnetite. The process results in the solidification front to propagate as almost a completely solid surface.” says Latypov.

This research shows that such powerful compositional convection may inhibit the formation of crystal-rich mushes in basaltic magma chambers.

There are many reasons to believe that this process is not unique to magnetitite layers of the Bushveld Complex but will likely operate in other rock types as well, for instance, in the Bushveld’s economically important chromitite layers.

“Our results thus argue for the existence of large, liquid-dominated magma chambers hidden within the Earth’s crust,” says Kruger.

###

Media Contact
Schalk Mouton
[email protected]

Original Source

http://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2020/2020-06/phd-students-study-on-the-state-of-magma-in-crustal-reservoirs-published-in-nature-communications.html

Tags: Earth ScienceGeology/SoilGeophysicsGeophysics/GravityMaterialsNaturePlanets/MoonsPlate TectonicsTemperature-Dependent Phenomena
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Why Beer Foam Stays So Stable: The Science Behind the Perfect Pour

Why Beer Foam Stays So Stable: The Science Behind the Perfect Pour

August 26, 2025
SwRI Scientist Heads Science Team for New NASA Heliophysics AI Foundation Model

SwRI Scientist Heads Science Team for New NASA Heliophysics AI Foundation Model

August 26, 2025

Expanding Azole Chemistry with Precise N-Alkylation

August 26, 2025

Advancing Green Technology with More Efficient and Reliable SiC Devices

August 26, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    148 shares
    Share 59 Tweet 37
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    142 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    115 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

First-Ever Image Captures a Developing Baby Planet Set Against a Dark Backdrop

Stem Cell Patches Improve Rat Heart Function

Notch2 Enhances Granulosa Cell Function in Ovarian Failure

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.