Experimental Petrology

Zhang, J., Wang, C., Xu, H., Wang, C., & Xu, W. (2015). Partial melting and crust-mantle interaction in subduction channels: Constraints from experimental petrology. Science China.Earth Sciences, 58(10), 1700-1712. doi:http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5186-3

This article tells about experimental petrology performed on rocks that are typically formed in subduction zones through partial melting and crust-mantle interactions. One experiment is of the partial melting of silicate rocks of felsic and mafic composition. They also tell of experimental results of carbonate rocks — common rocks in subduction zones — that get dragged into the mantle. Among other things, they determine, “the residues produced by partial melting of felsic and mafic compositions at pressures lower than 10 kbar (~30 km) are all rich in anorthite-rich plagioclase and absent in garnet and rutile.”

Zheng, Y., Xia, Q., Chen, R., & Gao, X. (2011). Partial melting, fluid supercriticality and element mobility in ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks during continental collision. Earth-Science Reviews, 107(3-4), 342-374. doi:http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.04.004