Decompression melt

Dekompressionsschmelze (also: Decompression Melting ) referred to in the Geosciences the product of the melting process in the earth's interior , rises in the rock material and due to the lower pressure melts, without further supply of heat .

Rocks that are exposed to increasing pressure have significantly higher melting temperatures. The deeper a rock is, the higher the melting temperature, as the load on the rock increases with depth. Because of this, rocks on the earth's surface melt at much lower temperatures. This also explains why most of the crust and mantle do not melt because the temperature and pressure conditions must match.

The convection prevailing in the earth's mantle causes material to rise to the mid-ocean ridges . This process causes the rock to melt spontaneously as the pressure drops below a critical point. This process continuously creates the largest volume of molten rock in the world and is also responsible for most of the basalts on the ocean floor .

literature

• Johne Grotzinger, Thomas H. Jordan, Frank Press, Raymond Siever: General geology. 5th edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8274-1812-8