Melted Rocks under the

Microscope: Microstructures
and Their Interpretation
Marian B. Holness1, Bernardo Cesare2 and Edward W. Sawyer3

1811-5209/11/0007-0247$2.50 DOI: 10.2113/gselements.7.4.247

R
ecognising the former presence of melt in rocks which have undergone MICROSTRUCTURES
cooling and exhumation over millions of years following regional meta- DUE TO MELTING
morphism commonly relies on the correct interpretation of grain-scale In the first instance, the identifica-
tion and interpretation of micro-
structures visible only under the microscope. The evolution of these structures
structures associated with partial
during prograde melting and, later, retrograde cooling can be understood melting involves comparison of
using concepts derived from experimental simulation and materials science. natural examples with experi-
mental simulations. Experiments
KEYWORDS : migmatite, microstructure, crystallization, dihedral angle, textural provide the opportunit y to
equilibration, mineral reactions, retrograde metamorphism constrain rock composition and to
control the pressure and tempera-
ture conditions, but a major draw-
back is that they can never be run
INTRODUCTION for sufficiently long periods to truly emulate geological
It can be relatively straightforward to deduce whether rocks events. However, we can melt rocks under laboratory condi-
have been subjected to partial melting. Field geologists tions to get an idea about what melting may look like,
look for high-temperature mineral assemblages and the at least on short timescales. We fi nd that melting always
presence of lenses and irregular patches of quartzofeld- initiates at the junctions between reactant grains and
spathic material (leucosomes; see Glossary on page 234) commonly forms fi lms of melt separating these reacting
with a bulk composition consistent with derivation from minerals (Acosta-Vigil et al. 2006).
an anatectic melt. Melting is commonly associated with
regional deformation which results in coalescence of these The next step towards understanding longer-duration
patches. The signature of the former presence of melt on events is to examine natural contexts in which rocks have
a smaller, microscopic scale is not always so obvious, and been melted and then cooled so quickly that the melt is
this signature is subject to modification during both the preserved as glass. The most extreme examples of this
melting event itself and the subsequent history of the rock. are pseudotachylites, formed during movement on fault
surfaces by frictional heating, but we are most interested
Spry (1969) took a significant step forward in understanding in examples in which deformation was less intense and
the development of metamorphic rocks by applying a the heat source was either igneous or radioactive heating
materials science approach to interpreting their micro- in over-thickened crust. Examples of these are found in
structures. At that time an anatectic origin for migmatites two, rather rare, environments. The fi rst is where rocks
was not widely accepted, and over the next two decades have been subjected to pyrometamorphism, defi ned as a
research on migmatite microstructures was motivated by short (10–1000 years) and very hot metamorphic event. The
the need to disprove the hypothesis that leucosomes were speed at which the rocks are brought up to their melting
subsolidus segregations and to fi nd evidence that they had point is generally matched by the speed at which they are
instead crystallized from melt (e.g. Vernon and Collins cooled back down again. Such conditions occur in the walls
1988). Subsequently it was shown that microstructures in of shallow magma conduits feeding major surface flows.
the material surrounding the leucosomes also record the Melt in the wall rocks is generated at the contacts between
presence of melt during the metamorphic peak (Sawyer reactant grains (FIG. 1A) to form parallel-sided fi lms that
1999). Recent interest in migmatite microstructures has thicken with time (Holness et al. 2005). The fi lms lose
taken another turn, this time focussed on what happened their continuity and parallelism when the melt proportion
inside the small former melt pockets. Research has now becomes sufficiently large for the remaining solid grains
revealed them to be a fascinating micro-world controlled to move relative to each other. For melting reactions that
by kinetic factors. involve a volume increase, overpressure creates a network
of melt-fi lled fractures (FIG. 1B) (Holness and Watt 2002).
This network doesn’t seem to provide a good pathway for
melt migration on short timescales, but it is possible that
1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge it might play an important role during longer-lived events.
Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
E-mail: marian@esc.cam.ac.uk Other naturally quenched melted rocks are fragments,
2 Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova or enclaves, of metasedimentary rock caught up in lava.
Via Gradenigo 6, I-35131 Padova, Italy Although metasedimentary xenoliths are comparatively
E-mail: bernardo.cesare@unipd.it common (Braun and Kriegsman 2001; Grapes and Li
3 Sciences de la Terre, Département des Sciences Appliquées 2010), the suite of metasedimentary enclaves erupted by
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi the volcano at El Hoyazo in southeastern Spain is very
Québec G7H 2B1, Canada unusual (FIG. 2A). They reached their metamorphic peak
E-mail: ewsawyer@uqac.ca

E LEMENTS , V OL . 7, PP. 247–252 247 A UGUS T 2011

A B
(A) Parallel-sided films of brown glass develop on
FIGURE 1 grain boundaries between the reactant phases quartz
(Qtz, clear) and feldspar (Fsp, dusty) during pyrometamorphism in
the walls of a magma conduit that was active for 5 months. Mull,
western Scotland. (B) A partially melted muscovite schist, with the
original foliation oriented horizontally. The reacted muscovite grains
at 15 to 20 km depth a few million years before they were
erupted (Cesare et al. 2009a). This is consistent with their
involvement in a melting event associated with the volca-
nism. Their composition is exactly what we might expect
the residue to be after anatexis and extraction of up to
60 wt% of melt (although the extraction was incomplete
as the enclaves still contain abundant melt inclusions and
some interstitial melt). There is therefore the exciting possi-
bility that the enclaves may be fragments of the crustal
source of their host lava. Cesare et al. (1997) suggested that
the microstructures in the enclaves were formed during a
rapid heating event caused by crustal thinning, followed
by a long (106 years) period at supersolidus temperatures.
After entrainment, the microstructures formed during this
melting event were quenched during eruption (Cesare et
al. 1997; Acosta-Vigil et al. 2010). If this interpretation is
correct, then the El Hoyazo enclaves provide us with a
missing link between pyrometamorphic aureoles evolving
on a 101–103 -year timescale and migmatites formed during
regional metamorphism on a 106 –107-year timescale.
The melt in the enclaves, now solidified to glass, has a
rather different distribution to that seen in the pyrometa-
morphic aureoles or the more common type of metasedi-
mentary xenoliths entrained in the shallow crust. It is
no longer confi ned to the sites of reaction but is present
throughout the rock. Films of glass are present on some
grain boundaries (FIG. 2 B ), notably surrounding garnet
grains, but glass also forms lenses parallel to the dominant
foliation in enclaves containing abundant biotite.
The El Hoyazo enclaves show us what melting might have
looked like during anatexis, but the preservation of these
microstructures is extremely unusual. The great majority
of regional metamorphic rocks that underwent melting
cooled more slowly, and the long timescales involved in
the entire heating–cooling cycle complicate interpretation
of melt-related microstructures. These long time periods
provide opportunities for modification of the microstruc-
ture during and after solidification, driven by a combina-
tion of textural equilibration, reaction and deformation.
STATIC MELT-BEARING ROCKS
In the absence of deformation and if the temperature is
permitted to change only slowly (reducing the rate of
melt production or solidification), melt-bearing rocks will
approach textural equilibrium as internal energies (i.e.
E LEMENTS
are the dark elongate patches formed of a fine-grained mineral
aggregate representing solidified former melt. They are connected
to each other by cracks (representative examples are arrowed),
filled with fine-grained material solidified from the former melt and
oriented diagonally across the image.
energies associated with interfaces of all kinds, such as
grain boundaries and fluid–solid interfaces) are reduced.
These conditions are generally met in the deep crust.
Textural equilibrium is easily recognized in melt-free rocks
by the uniform grain size and the smoothly curved grain
boundaries, which meet at angles reflecting the relative
magnitude of the different interfacial energies (FIG. 3A).
The angle formed at the corners of melt-fi lled pores is
controlled by the relative magnitude of the fluid–solid
and grain-boundary energies and is known as the dihe-
dral angle (see FIG. 3B for an example of the dihedral angle
formed at a three-grain junction). Because the interfacial
energy depends on the orientation of the crystal lattice,
the equilibrium melt–solid dihedral angle depends on the
relative orientations of the two grains forming the pore
corner. This results in a range of equilibrium angles, typi-
cally with a standard deviation of 10–15°(Holness 2006).
The dihedral angle controls melt connectivity in texturally
equilibrated materials: if the melt–solid dihedral angle is
less than 60° the melt forms a stable interconnected network
of channels along three-grain junctions (FIG. 3C), but if the
angle is greater than 60°, melt forms isolated pockets on
four-grain junctions. This is of immense significance for
the properties of the melt-bearing rock as the mobility of
the melt and the strength of the partially melted material
are therefore directly related to the dihedral angle. The
dihedral angle for virtually all silicate mineral–melt pairs is
<60° (Holness 2006); higher angles are seen for non-silicate
liquids, such as the Fe–Ni liquids relevant to core-forming
events (e.g. Terasaki et al. 2005), and for some orientations
of highly anisotropic minerals like biotite (Laporte and
Watson 1995). Therefore in statically melted rocks, a silicate
melt is generally completely interconnected by means of
a stable network of channels along three-grain junctions,
even when only a few percent of melt is present.
THE EFFECTS OF DEFORMATION
Field evidence suggests that deformation is the rule rather
than the exception in regional metamorphic terrains. Melt
has an enormous effect on rock strength, even when only
a few volume percent is present. On length scales greater
than the grain size, melt-bearing rocks tend to behave in
a ductile manner, so even at high strain rates it is unlikely
that they will break to form major fractures. Conversely
the effect deformation has on grain-scale melt distribu-
248 A UGUS T 2011
 A A

B
B

Enclaves of a partially melted crustal source entrained

FIGURE 2 by erupting lavas. (A) A 10 cm long metasedimentary
enclave enclosed in dacitic lava. (B) Photomicrograph of a partially
melted metasedimentary rock; a red tint plate has been used so
that the glass (representing the quenched melt) appears magenta.
The glass forms films and lenses between the solid grains. The
broad band of glass running subhorizontally across the image
contains cuspate, brown, devitrification structures.

tion can be profound. For interfacial energies to control

melt geometry the critical question is whether textural
equilibration can keep pace with deformation. Deformation
predominantly by diffusive processes is sufficiently slow to
permit textural equilibration, but when deformation rates
are higher melt topology begins to be controlled more by
the deformation itself (e.g. Marchildon and Brown 2002).
Observations of naturally deformed metamorphic rocks
show that grain-scale melt distribution falls into two
types. In some rocks melt forms pockets aligned parallel
to foliation (e.g. Sawyer 2001; Marchildon and Brown 2002;
Guernina and Sawyer 2003). This is also the case in the El
Hoyazo enclaves (FIG. 2B). But in others it forms elongate
pockets on grain boundaries aligned at a high angle to
the foliation (FIG. 4) (Rosenberg and Riller 2000; Závada
et al. 2007). In the latter case, melt may also occupy intra-
granular fractures. These differences in orientation seem to
depend on the magnitude of the stress and the amount of
melt present. Foliation-parallel melt pockets form at rela-
tively low stresses and with small volumes of melt (<2%),
and this melt is sucked into weak grain boundaries that
open during shear. As the stress is increased, or as the melt
fraction increases, grain boundaries at a high angle to the
foliation begin to dilate (Schulmann et al. 2008).
If the temperature remains high after deformation has
stopped, the melt fi lms on grain boundaries will begin
to break up. This is because replacement of a dry grain
boundary by a stable liquid fi lm is only possible if the
Textural equilibrium. (A) An epidote-bearing quartzite
FIGURE 3 in textural equilibrium. The rare epidote grains are
labeled Ep. (B) The junction between two plagioclase grains (clear)
and an augite grain (brown). The interfacial energies act in the
plane of each interface, tangential to each boundary at their inter-
section, and pull away from the three-grain junction. They are
denoted γpp (the energy of the plagioclase–plagioclase grain
boundary) and γap (the energy of the augite–plagioclase grain
boundary). In textural equilibrium, the three forces balance,
creating a characteristic angle, Θ: this is the plagioclase–plagio-
clase–augite dihedral angle. (C) A mould of the fluid-filled pore
network on three-grain junctions, visible after the dissolution of
the solid. PHOTOGRAPH BY R. H. G ERMAN
dihedral angle is zero (i.e. the interfacial energy of the grain
boundary is greater than that of two fluid–solid interfaces),
which is not the case for silicate systems. Deformation-
controlled, completely wetted grain boundaries are there-
fore a transient feature.
SOLIDIFICATION
The pyrometamorphic examples described above are those
in which the temperature dropped so fast after the meta-
morphic peak that the liquid phase did not have time to
crystallize. This does not happen in most geological envi-
ronments, where cooling rates are very much slower. In the
majority of slowly cooled rocks, any melt present crystal-

E LEMENTS 249 A UGUS T 2011

 Backscattered electron image of a mylonite composed
FIGURE 4 predominantly of K-feldspar (pale grey), with grains of
quartz and albite(dark grey) on grain boundaries perpendicular to the
lamination (shown by the double-ended arrow). FROM Z ÁVADA ET AL.
(2007), REPRODUCED/MODIFIED BY PERMISSION OF AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
lizes. The rate at which this occurs, the amount of H2O
present and, critically, the size of the melt pockets control
what the melt looks like after it has solidified. In some cases
the melt never actually gets to crystallize during cooling;
instead it is consumed by reactions with the surrounding
solid assemblage. These retrograde reactions are particu-
larly common in hydrous melts, and the growth of biotite
at the expense of garnet and hydrous melt is a typical
example (FIG. 5). Retrograde reactions modify and may
erase microstructural and chemical information about the
melt-bearing stage and the peak metamorphic conditions.
The simplest understanding of solidification can be gained
from studying relatively large pockets of former melt, such
as are now represented by layers and patches of leucosome
in migmatites. These crystallize a progressive sequence of
minerals that can be inferred from the relevant phase
diagram. The early-formed minerals tend to crystallize as
euhedral grains bounded by growth faces. Normal or oscil-
latory zoning may be present in plagioclase (Vernon 2011).
The later, lower-temperature minerals fi ll in the gaps, like
cement in a sedimentary rock (FIG. 6). This picture is very
much what we would expect from igneous rocks, which in
essence is what these layers and patches of leucosome in
migmatites are. However, solidification in the smaller pores
may look very different indeed, and the reason for this is
the effect surface curvature has in determining the degree
of supersaturation required for crystal growth.
Evidence of retrograde reaction in a granulite from
FIGURE 5 Antarctica. The central garnet grain that grew during
the prograde melting reaction (Grt) was partially replaced by a
fine-grained intergrowth of biotite (Bt) and feldspar (Fsp) during
solidification.
E LEMENTS
Neosome in a migmatite from Australia, showing
FIGURE 6 crystal faces of microcline (Kfs) and (pseudomorphed)
cordierite (Crd). These facetted grains crystallized from a melt. The
base of the photo corresponds to 10 mm. R EPRODUCED FROM VERNON
(2004, FIG. 4.80), WITH PERMISSION FROM C AMBRIDGE U NIVERSITY PRESS
THE IMPORTANCE OF PORE SIZE
It has been known for a long time – particularly in the engi-
neering community where, for example, it is very impor-
tant to stop ice and halite crystallizing within cement
structures – that the temperature at which crystallization
occurs in confined spaces depends on the size of that space.
This is because the thermodynamics of solidification is
dependent on the energy of the interface between the
growing crystal and its host liquid. This energy increases
as the curvature of the interface becomes higher (i.e. as
the crystal becomes smaller). This process is analogous
to Ostwald ripening, whereby larger particles grow at the
expense of smaller ones. What it means in practice is that
the degree of supersaturation required for crystal growth
into a small pore is greater than that required for growth
into a larger pore. This is easily seen in melt inclusions in
phenocrysts from extrusive igneous rocks. While the larger
inclusions are crystalline, the smaller ones may be glassy
despite having cooled at exactly the same rate. Crystals
could not nucleate and grow in the smallest inclusions due
to the inhibiting effect of the small pore size. This effect
may be important even on much longer timescales. Cesare
et al. (2009b) recently discovered tiny droplets of glass of
broadly granitic composition preserved within refractory
minerals in a granulite from the Kerala Khondalite Belt in
India. These rocks have undergone a metamorphic cycle
lasting about 107 years. Inclusions larger than about 15 μm
have crystallized to “nanogranite”, a fine-grained aggregate
of quartz, feldspar and biotite (FIG. 7) but, astonishingly,
the smallest inclusions remain glassy. Further discoveries
of glassy inclusions in migmatites from other terranes
(e.g. Ronda, Spain) suggest they may be quite common
and could provide an exciting opportunity to determine
the original composition of the anatectic melt.
A major microstructural consequence of the effect of pore
size on inhibiting solidification is a change in crystallization
order. This is most easily seen in relatively simple systems,
such as quartzofeldspathic migmatites, in which the liquid
is saturated in two or three phases (quartz and one or two
feldspars). In a narrow pore bounded by quartz grains, the
quartz component of the liquid can crystallize by over-
growth on the walls; no new quartz grains need to be nucle-
ated, so there is no kinetic barrier. The remaining liquid
becomes increasingly saturated in the feldspar component
until feldspar begins to nucleate and grow. Instead of the
simultaneous crystallization of minerals along a cotectic
predicted by equilibrium thermodynamics, the result is
sequential crystallization, producing a microstructure
in which the fi nal melt pockets are pseudomorphed by
250 A UGUS T 2011

“Nanogranite” inclusion inside a garnet in granulite
FIGURE 7 from the Kerala Khondalite Belt (India). Kfs = potassic
feldspar, Pl = plagioclase, Bt = biotite, Qtz = quartz. R EPRODUCED FROM
CESARE ET AL. (2009B), WITH PERMISSION FROM THE G EOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
A MERICA
the mineral with the greatest difficulty nucleating. This
process shows up very clearly in migmatites in which the
pore structure is fi lled by single plagioclase grains (FIG. 8),
commonly with a shape highly reminiscent of melt pockets
in experimental charges (Sawyer 1999). The dihedral angles
at the corners of these cuspate grains are generally much
lower than those expected for solid grains, pointing to
inheritance of the shape of the melt-fi lled pore by the pseu-
domorphing mineral.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFUSION
Microstructures resulting from reactions that yield several
product minerals are highly dependent on diffusion rates.
If H 2O is available, reactions tend to go to completion.
In contrast, reactions in drier rocks are generally incom-
plete, and such rocks contain microstructures that result
from diffusion-limited control; coronae, intergrowths and
symplectites are a common consequence of this (FIG. 5).
The most common type of intergrowth in solidifying
crustal rocks is that between quartz and alkali feldspar,
known as granophyre (FIG. 9), which is common in the
relatively rapidly cooled shallow crust.
If the cooling rate is sufficiently slow, the balance between
the imperative to crystallize and the constraints imposed
by diffusion means that it becomes possible to nucleate
and grow individual grains from the melt. If the melt was
A partially melted quartz–plagioclase rock (also
FIGURE 8 containing some opaque Fe oxides) from the aureole
of the Duluth Igneous Complex, Minnesota, USA. The minor plagio-
clase (now all brown and turbid) pseudomorphs an original textur-
ally equilibrated melt-filled porosity. Pl = plagioclase, Qtz = quartz
E LEMENTS
primarily concentrated in thick fi lms on grain boundaries,
a “string of beads” texture may result (FIG. 10). At fi rst sight
this might be confused with the textures formed in the
early stages of static recrystallization of highly deformed
rocks, but the presence of other indicators of melting (such
as larger-scale segregations or peritectic minerals) should
be diagnostic.
THE PATH TO THE SURFACE
While pyrometamorphic aureoles give clues about the
onset of melting and enclaves provide a window into the
metamorphic peak, we also need to know what occurs after
the rock has solidified and is cooling down; we need to
know how the melting story ends. This is because most of
the anatectic rocks we collect have been exhumed slowly,
in some cases after further heating and/or deformation
events, and this later history will also have left its imprint
on the microstructures.
Understanding these microstructures is only possible once
we know how to recognise the remains of melt left behind
after the bulk of it was extracted to form intrusions higher
in the crust. What we see seems to depend again on the
amount of H 2O present because of its role in enhancing
diffusion. If there is sufficient H 2O and the rocks stay
hot enough for extensive diffusion, the microstructures
change, driven by the reduction in interfacial energy. The
rock attempts to minimize the energy associated with grain
boundaries by decreasing surface area – this leads to a
general increase in grain size and a straightening of highly
curved and irregular grain boundaries. Highly cuspate
pseudomorphs of melt at three-grain junctions (e.g. FIG. 8)
become more rounded as the inherited dihedral angle
increases towards the angle for solid-state equilibrium,
which is generally in the range 110–140˚ (FIG. 11). Because
textural equilibration and recrystallization can wipe out
any microstructural record of a previous melting event,
one would anticipate that the microstructures resulting
from solidification are more likely to be retained in dry
rocks, and in particular dry rocks which have not been
significantly deformed on the retrograde path. If the micro-
structures have been obliterated, recognising the former
presence of melt becomes extremely difficult, and melt
inclusions in peritectic relicts may be the only evidence
preserved.
Partially melted quartzofeldspathic gneiss from the
FIGURE 9 aureole of the Rum Igneous Complex, western
Scotland. The early-formed feldspar has grown as large euhedral
grains, while the later feldspar forms a complex intergrowth with
quartz (granophyre).
251 A UGUS T 2011
 “String of beads” texture formed by crystallization at
FIGURE 10 sufficiently slow rates to permit nucleation of indi-
vidual grains from the original melt film on boundaries between
quartz (Qtz) and feldspar (Fsp) grains. The continuous, solidified
former melt films are shown by the arrows.
A highly cuspate plagioclase grain (centre) in a granu-
FIGURE 11 lite from the Nemiscau subprovince, Canada. This
grain is inferred to have originally had low dihedral angles against
the surrounding orthopyroxene (Opx), most likely inherited from an
original melt-filled pore. However, the plagioclase developed
bulbous ends as the dihedral angle increased during approach to
solid-state textural equilibrium.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to those who have collaborated with us on
studies of partially melted rocks; they have contributed
greatly to our understanding of the underlying controls
and processes. We acknowledge helpful and constructive
reviews by Michael Brown, Hap McSween, Ondrej Lexa
and Ron Vernon.

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