Magma Chamber Simulator: Modeling Crustal Geochemical Processes

November 15th to 17th 2021

Benita Putlitz

Dr. Benita Putlitz, UNIL

Mme Michelle Foley, UNIL

Prof. Wendy Bohrson, Colorado School of Mines, US

The fundamental controls on the wide variety of major, trace and isotopic concentrations we see reflected in crustal products – whether they be revealed in the petrogenic suites of volcanic or plutonic rocks – are driven by processes including and pertaining to fractional crystallization, partial melting, assimilation, recharge, magma mixing and mingling, and stoping. The difficulty in understanding the magnitude of each individual process acting on a particular system comes down to the availability and effectiveness of modelling techniques we have available. The computational program "Magma Chamber Simulator" is the first numerical code to utilize the thermodynamic capabilities of MELTS to maintain local phase equilibra, while modelling complex processes of fractional crystallization, recharge + fractional crystallization, and/or assimilation fractional crystallization while allowing the user to control additional mechanism of potential contamination in the resident magma, including the assimilation of partial melts of wallrock or the wholesale stoping of a block. The 3-day workshop led by Prof. Wendy Bohrson (Colorado School of Mines, USA) will include both lectures governed around understanding the physical processes detailed above, combined with case study exercises which will allow students to practice using the Magma Chamber Simulator. Students will have the opportunity to receive additional, individual instructions applying techniques covered in this course to their petrologic systems of interest. *Requirement for running MCS include a Macintosh computer with either Excel 2016 (version 16.16) or Excel 2019 (version 16.20). Please see the website mcs.geol.ucsb.edu for more details about the installation and running requir

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