pyrolite
Sign in to savePyrolite is a term used to characterize a model composition of the Earth's mantle. This model is based on that a pyrolite source can produce mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) by partial melting. It was first proposed by Ted Ringwood (1962) as being 1 part basalt and 4 parts harzburgite, but later was revised to being 1 part tholeiitic basalt and 3 parts dunite. The term is derived from the mineral names pyroxene and olivine. However, whether pyrolite is entirely representative of the Earth's mantle remains debated.
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Chemical composition and [[phase transition]]
- Seismic velocity and density properties
- Shortcomings
- Other mantle rock models
- See also
- References
Pyrolite is a term used to characterize a model composition of the Earth's mantle. This model is based on that a pyrolite source can produce mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) by partial melting. It was first proposed by Ted Ringwood (1962) as being 1 part basalt and 4 parts harzburgite, but later was revised to being 1 part tholeiitic basalt and 3 parts dunite. The term is derived from the mineral names pyroxene and olivine. However, whether pyrolite is entirely representative of the Earth's mantle remains debated.
== Chemical composition and phase transition == thumb|Pyrolitic mantle mineralogy as a function of mineral volume fraction and depth variation. The major elements composition of pyrolite is about 44.9 wt% SiO2, 4.44 wt% Al2O3, 8.03 wt% FeO, 3.54 wt% CaO, 37.71 wt% MgO, 0.36 wt% Na2O.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “pyrolite” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.