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Compaction around a rigid, circular inclusion in partially molten rock


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Alisic, Laura 
Rudge, John F. 
Katz, Richard F. 
Wells, Garth N. 
Rhebergen, Sander 

Abstract

Conservation laws that describe the behavior of partially molten mantle rock have been established for several decades, but the associated rheology remains poorly understood. Constraints on the rheology may be obtained from recently published experiments involving deformation of partially molten rock around a rigid, spherical inclusion. These experiments give rise to patterns of melt segregation that exhibit the competing effects of pressure shadows and melt-rich bands. Such patterns provide an opportunity to infer rheological parameters through comparison with models based on the conservation laws and constitutive relations that hypothetically govern the system. To this end, we have developed software tools to simulate finite strain, two-phase flow around a circular inclusion in a configuration that mirrors the experiments. Simulations indicate that the evolution of porosity is predominantly controlled by the porosity-weakening exponent of the shear viscosity and the poorly known bulk viscosity. In two-dimensional simulations presented here, we find that the balance of pressure shadows and melt-rich bands observed in experiments only occurs for bulk-to-shear viscosity ratio of less than about five. However, the evolution of porosity in simulations with such low bulk viscosity exceeds physical bounds at unrealistically small strain due to the unchecked, exponential growth of the porosity variations. Processes that limit or balance porosity localization should be incorporated in the formulation of the model to produce results that are consistent with the porosity evolution in experiments.

Description

This is the final published version. It is also available from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JB010906/abstract.

©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

119

Publisher

Wiley on behalf of the American Geophysical Union
Sponsorship
This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council under grants NE/I023929/1 and NE/I026995/1.