A NEW EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH FOR INCREMENTAL BATCH MELTING OF PERIDOTITE AT 1.5-GPA

Melt generation by incremental batch melting of peridotite with a complete melt withdrawal was experimentally investigated. The experiments were made using the ''diamond aggregate method'' at 1.5 GPa with increasing temperature from 1275-degree to 1425-degrees-C and total degree of partial melting to 22.6 wt.%. The incremental batch melting significantly differs from the batch melting in amount and composition of melt formed. The total degrees of partial melting formed by incremental batch melting are considerably lower than those formed by batch melting at the same temperatures. The compositions of incremental melts change more rapidly than do those of batch melts with increasing temperature. The accumulated compositions of incremental melts are, however, similar to those of batch melts formed by the same total degrees of partial melting. If melts are generated isobarically, both the melting processes can form melts with similar major oxide compositions, but the temperatures needed are significantly different.