Basalts and Phase Diagrams: An Introduction to the Quantitative Use of Phase Diagrams in Igneous Petrology

Underlying some 70 percent of the earth's surface, basalts are the most abundant type of rock on the earth and the moon. The origin and fate of basaltic magma is still unfolding; but it can be understood and constrained through the use of phase diagrams. Beginning with elementary principles, the text moves into more advanced material such as non-binary or non-ternary solid solution, Gibbs free energy diagrams, and use of the lever rule with fractional crystallization in some chapters. The later chapters tend to contain more advanced materials, such as an introduction to Schreinemakers' rules. However, the material in the chapters on high pressure and volatile components presumes no special prior knowledge and can be interwoven with the earlier chapters on low pressure equilibria. The text will be of interest to both undergraduate and graduate students, and can serve as a prelude to the study of metamorphic petrology.