Partial melting processes at the contact zones of layered intrusions

Magma-wallrock interaction in crustal magma chambers (a process known as crustal assimilation) is critical to the evolution of a magmatic system and formation of many of the most economically important base and precious metal deposits. Although such generalized model is largely accepted, details on how these interactions take place are relatively poorly characterized. One of the major issues has been the lack of models that integrate mass and energy exchange, thermodynamics and geochemistry. I propose to explore magma-wallrock interaction at three major intrusive complexes in USA, Finland, and Antarctica in a multidisciplinary study that includes state-of-the-art computational modeling with recently developed energy-constrained equations. The modeling will be tested against existing and potentially new geochemical data and wallrock partial melting experiments that will provide unprecedented insight into generation of layered intrusions and associates ore deposits.