Timescales of Magmatic Processes : From Core to Atmosphere

Quantifying the timescales of current geological processes iscritical for constraining the physical mechanisms operating on theEarth today. Since the Earth?s origin 4.55 billion years agomagmatic processes have continued to shape the Earth, producing themajor reservoirs that exist today (core, mantle, crust, oceans andatmosphere) and promoting their continued evolution. But keyquestions remain. When did the core form and how quickly? How aremagmas produced in the mantle, and how rapidly do they traveltowards the surface? How long do magmas reside in the crust,differentiating and interacting with the host rocks to yield thediverse set of igneous rocks we see today? How fast are volcanicgases such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere? This book addresses these and other questions by reviewing thelatest advances in a wide range of Earth Science disciplines: fromthe measurement of short-lived radionuclides to the study ofelement diffusion in crystals and numerical modelling of magmabehaviour. It will be invaluable reading for advanced undergraduateand graduate students, as well as igneous petrologists,mineralogists and geochemists involved in the study of igneousrocks and processes.