Permeability of asthenospheric mantle and melt extraction rates at mid-ocean ridges

James A. D. Connolly, Max W. Schmidt (), Giulio Solferino and Nikolai Bagdassarov
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James A. D. Connolly: Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Max W. Schmidt: Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Giulio Solferino: Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Nikolai Bagdassarov: Institut für Geowissenschaften, Facheinheit Geophysik, J. W. Goethe Universität, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Nature, 2009, vol. 462, issue 7270, 209-212

Abstract: Mantle melts in a hurry The timescale for the segregation and transport of basaltic magma as it rises to form new ocean crust at mid-ocean ridges is critically dependent on the permeability of the partially molten mantle. This parameter is hard to measure, as melt migration is an extremely slow process that occurs at extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. Connolly et al. use a high-pressure, high-temperature centrifuge to measure the rate of basalt melt flow in olivine aggregates as a model of the mantle, and obtain permeabilities that are one to two orders of magnitude greater than predicted by current parameterizations. The inclusion of these permeabilities in mantle models yields transport times of only 1,000–2,500 years for extraction of basaltic melt from the base of the melting region. These timescales are sufficiently rapid to explain the observed 'excesses' of short-lived isotopes such as radium-226 in mid-ocean-ridge basalts.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08517

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