8 May 2014
Honey crystallization as an analogue for magma segregation and cumulate textures
Posted by Callan Bentley
Check this out:
Maybe I’ve got low blood sugar, but I think I see a magma chamber in that jar of honey.
There is clearly some crystal settling going on there, and it appears that the more crystals there are, the easier it is to trap bubbles. When the clots of crystals get too dense, they peel off (stope) and drop down to the floor of the jar. Similar sorting of minerals by (a) crystallization sequence and (b) density occurs within crystallizing magma chambers. I’m not sure where the bubbles fit into this analogy – perhaps they are low-density minerals, or miarolitic cavities?
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.
My impression or bubbles’s size decreasing up ? Very reflective indeed.