You can watch or rewatch the talk of Prof. Pierre Lanari entitled “A geek approach for the quantification and simulation of metamorphism” given during the ninth Petrochronics P-T-t talk.
The study of metamorphism via the investigation of exhumed metamorphic rocks is essential to understanding the physical and chemical processes that occur in the Earth interior. Equilibrium thermodynamics has played a central role for the purpose of quantifying and simulating metamorphism, but natural rocks commonly show a higher level of complexity. Examples are domainal reactions controlled by the presence of fluids or preservation of mineral relics due to partial re-equilibration. In this presentation, I present advanced imaging and data reduction strategies to visualize and quantify the complexity of metamorphic rocks in 2D and 3D via their chemistry and textures. These datasets are combined with iterative thermodynamic models that identify where (spatially) and at which conditions equilibrium was locally approached. Metamorphic fluids are playing a key role in facilitating mineral re-equilibration. I present an integrated modeling approach that can be used to quantify the degree of fluid-rock interaction and to trace fluid pathways.