Anthony Dosseto & Simon P. Turner 
Timescales of Magmatic Processes 
From Core to Atmosphere

Quantifying the timescales of current geological processes is
critical for constraining the physical mechanisms operating on the
Earth today. Since the Earth’s origin 4.55 billion years ago
magmatic processes have continued to shape the Earth, producing the
major reservoirs that exist today (core, mantle, crust, oceans and
atmosphere) and promoting their continued evolution. But key
questions remain. When did the core form and how quickly? How are
magmas produced in the mantle, and how rapidly do they travel
towards the surface? How long do magmas reside in the crust,
differentiating and interacting with the host rocks to yield the
diverse set of igneous rocks we see today? How fast are volcanic
gases such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere?

This book addresses these and other questions by reviewing the
latest advances in a wide range of Earth Science disciplines: from
the measurement of short-lived radionuclides to the study of
element diffusion in crystals and numerical modelling of magma
behaviour. It will be invaluable reading for advanced undergraduate
and graduate students, as well as igneous petrologists,
mineralogists and geochemists involved in the study of igneous
rocks and processes.

Table of Content

List of Contributors.

Introduction to the Timescales of Magmatic Processes (Anthony
Dosseto, Simon P. Turner, Fidel Costa and James A. Van
Orman).

1 Extinct Radionuclides and the Earliest Differentiation of the
Earth and Moon (G. Caro and T. Kleine).

2 Diffusion Constraints on Rates of Melt Production in the
Mantle (James A. Van Orman and Alberto E. Saal).

3 Melt Production in the Mantle: Constraints from U-series
(Bernard Bourdon and Tim Elliott).

4 Formulations for Simulating the Multiscale Physics of Magma
Ascent (Craig O’Neill and Marc Spiegelman).

5 Melt Transport from the Mantle to the Crust –
Uranium-Series Isotopes (Simon P. Turner and Bernard
Bourdon).

6 Rates of Magma Ascent: Constraints from Mantle-Derived
Xenoliths (Suzanne Y. O’Reilly and W.L. Griffin).

7 Time Constraints from Chemical Equilibration in Magmatic
Crystals (Fidel Costa and Daniel Morgan).

8 Magma Cooling and Differentiation – Uranium-series
Isotopes (Anthony Dosseto and Simon P. Turner).

9 Defining Geochemical Signatures and Timescales of Melting
Processes in the Crust: An Experimental Tale of Melt Segregation,
Migration and Emplacement (Tracy Rushmer and Kurt
Knesel).

10 Timescales Associated with Large Silicic Magma Bodies
(Olivier Bachmann).

11 Timescales of Magma Degassing (Kim Berlo, James E. Gardner
and Jonathan D. Blundy).

Index.

Colour plates.

About the author

Anthony Dosseto did his Ph D at the Institut de Physique du
Globe de Paris in France before taking up a postdoctoral position
at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia in 2004. In 2009, he
moved to the Univesity of Wollongong, Australia and in 2010 was
awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship.

Simon P. Turner obtained his Ph D at the University of
Adelaide in 1991. Currently he holds an ARC Professorial Fellowship
in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Macquarie
University, Sydney, Australia where he specializes in the
application of U-series isotopes to constraining the time scales of
Earth processes with particular emphasis on subduction zone
magmatism.

James A. Van Orman is an Associate Professor in
Geological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He
was awarded a Ph D in geochemistry at MIT and undertook postdoctoral
research in mineral physics and geochemistry at the Carnegie
Institution of Washington. His research is centered on
diffusion in minerals and melts, with current interests in deep
planetary rheology, chemical exchange processes, and
geochronology.