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Hydrothermal Melting of Shales*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

P. J. Wyllie  and
O. F. Tuttle
P. J. Wyllie
Affiliation:
College of Mineral Industries, The Pennsylvania State University.
O. F. Tuttle
Affiliation:
College of Mineral Industries, The Pennsylvania State University.
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Abstract

PT curves for the beginning of melting of five analysed shales in the presence of water vapour under pressure are 20° C. to 40° C. higher than the corresponding curve for granite. About 150° C. above the beginning of melting, the shales are half-melted; this is higher than the liquidus curve of most granites. Refractive indices of the quenched liquids (1·495–1·505) indicate a granitic or granodioritic composition. Quartz, cordierite, mullite, hypersthene, anorthite, etc., are developed in the partially fused shales. Partial fusion of shales by a granitic magma, even if superheated, would produce a liquid no more basic than granodiorite. The chemical characteristics of the shales are compared with average igneous rocks, and there appears to be no possibility that fusion of shales could produce a basaltic magma. Complete fusion would produce a melt with composition distinct from normal igneous magmas.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 98 , Issue 1 , February 1961 , pp. 56 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1961

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Footnotes

†

Now at the Department of Geology, University of Leeds.

*

Mineral Industries Experiment Station Contribution No. 59–99.

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