Melt Production

Partial melting impacts on the mechanical behavior of both the mantle and the continental crust. As melt as a much lower density and viscosity than its source, the production of melt impact significantly on dynamic evolution of both the mantle and the continental crust. It affects also on the long term their mechanical properties as upon melt extraction, the residual depleted rock has a viscosity and density much larger that the source rock before melting. Melting is therefore a fundamental process controlling the evolution of Earth main envelops.

 In 2005 Patrice Rey and Craig O'Neill implemented a function in Ellipsis aiming at encapsulating the thermal and mechanical consequences of partial melting. The melt is produced when a material passes its solidus, and its fraction growth as the temperature increases toward the liquidus. The solidus and liquidus are approximated by polynomial functions.