9 - Crystal Entrainment and Transport

Summary

The behavior of fluids laced or heavily laden with particles is presented in theory and experiment using molten wax and water in a 2.5 m tall mush column. The idea is to simulate the patterns of crystal concentrations found in the Basement Sill. And, on a grander scale, to build an experimental system mimicking the operation of the full Dry Valleys magmatic system during its time of operation. In flow in a pipe, as the concentration of particles increases the vertical distribution becomes increasingly parabolic, reflecting the fluid flow velocity, even without solidification. With on-going solidification particles are trapped or frozen in place, such that if the flow starts and stops, a specific pattern of particles will be frozen into the final fluid. Patterns like this are found in the Basement Sill. Molten wax experiments simulating dikes propagating into viscoelastic crust, represented as gelatin, exhibit particle transport just as expected with high concentrations in the center and undergoing sedimentation as the dike flattens and becomes a sill. The large mush column experiments between interconnected tanks (sills) with water as ‘magma’ laden with particles, demonstrate the many ways in which layering forms through the completion between the conduits at each level.