Experimental Petrology and the Orogenic Cycle

Abstract

Much of the impetus for the development of experimental petrology has come from the efforts of geologists to understand the origin of igneous and metamorphic rocks. These rocks provide fossil records of the processes involved in the development of mountain ranges and the formation of continents, processes which are surface manifestations of changes occurring within the mantle. On the basis of standard geological, structural, and petrological investigations, petrologists propose hypotheses about the processes involved in the origin of the rocks at depth. Experimental petrology provides one means of testing the various hypotheses by permitting the reproduction in the laboratory of high pressures and temperatures similar to those involved in the natural processes. The orogenic cycle is a concept which provides a convenient framework for a review of the applications of experimental petrology. Major geological processes associated with the cycle include the sinking and uplift of geosynclinal belts, magma generation, and metamorphism. The results of experimental petrology provide limits for the conditions at depth during some of these processes.

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