What Factors Influence the Cooling of Magma Sills in Numerical Models?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on a numerical model analyzing the cooling of magma sills in the Earth's crust. Key factors influencing the cooling include the emplacement rate of magma and the thickness of the sills, which are described as wafer- or cylinder-shaped. The model indicates that as the sills become thinner, the volume of the "hot" zone initially increases to a maximum before decreasing, due to reduced heat transfer in multiple directions. The discussion raises questions about the initial conditions and measurement of volume in relation to the cooling process.

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  • Understanding of numerical modeling techniques in geosciences
  • Knowledge of heat transfer principles, particularly in geological contexts
  • Familiarity with magma emplacement processes and their characteristics
  • Experience with data visualization and interpretation of scientific figures
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  • Research "heat transfer in magma sills" to deepen understanding of cooling dynamics
  • Explore "numerical modeling in geosciences" for advanced modeling techniques
  • Investigate "thermal conductivity of geological materials" to assess heat loss mechanisms
  • Study "magma emplacement dynamics" to understand the effects of sill thickness on cooling
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Geoscientists, researchers in volcanology, and students studying magma dynamics will benefit from this discussion, particularly those focused on numerical modeling and heat transfer in geological formations.

PinkGeologist
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Ok, I've built a numerical model to show the cooling of hot magma sills entered into the crust over time. The results show that the volume of the "hot" zone when the emplacement of a constant volume of hot sills is all done will vary as a matter of two things: the overall rate at which the magma is emplaced (duh) and the thickness of the sills of magma (they are all wafer- or cylinder-shaped).

You can see from the attached figure that the volume shows a maximum and then decreases from that maximum as sills get shorter and taller.

My intuition suggests this is because du/dx and du/dy shrink with the thinner sills until du/dz is the only heat transfer of note (at the peak, the ratio of radius to height is ~300:1). That means heat is only escaping in effectively in one direction and thus more heat is retained in the zone.

I guess as the sills get "too" thin, they simply lose heat to quickly between sill-emplacement events to keep the heat in the zone.

I need to develop this for a journal paper I am working on, so is this sounding like the plausible cause of the curve shapes in my figure, or might there be an effect I am missing or not taking into account?
 

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I remember your previous thread, and I still don't understand what you are plotting as function of what, under which conditions.

Your initial condition is some magma cylinder and colder material around? We have the height in the plot, how does the width get determined? How do you fill in more magma over time?
How do you measure a volume? Volume of what, and how does it depend on the cooling process?
 

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