Crystallization and igneous differentiation
Crystallizing minerals remove selected chemical components from a melt.
Key knowledge
Crystallizing minerals remove selected chemical components from a melt. Equilibrium crystallization retains contact and exchange with earlier solids; fractional crystallization separates solids from continued melt evolution. Mixing and assimilation can also change magma composition, so one reaction series is not a universal sequence.
Conditions and scope
- The Bowen sequence is a bounded reference for suitable silicate magmas.
- Crystal separation and re-equilibration rates influence whether an idealized fractional model applies.
Sources · 2
References
Sources retain their recorded scope. A source link alone does not establish verification of every statement.
Evidence and review
Read Earle mineral sequence/residual melt/crystal removal and Nelson magma mixing/assimilation paragraphs; fixed temperatures and unique-composition-path inference are excluded.
2026-10-10 · Independent AI editorial review: All36 Life-authored Earth compact statements/conditions/displayed equations and all81 origin semantic links read; all36 author exact-source matrix rows and exclusions assessed. All18 inherited Earth compact records read for combined inventory. Targeted independent actual primary sections listed below; not every source body or proof independently reread. AI editorial reference review, not human certification/field proficiency or whole-field completion. Receipt: earth-life-independent-content-review.1.
Entry details
Permanent link to this entry ↗- Record identity
- uni-earth-igneous-differentiation
- Revision
- core.1
- Structured reference record
- University core expansion