The Magma Chamber Simulator (MCS) is a thermodynamic tool for modeling the evolution of magmatic systems that are open with respect to assimilation of partial melts or stoped blocks, magma recharge + mixing, and fractional crystallization. MCS is available for both PC and Mac. In the MCS, the thermal, mass, and compositional evolution of a multicomponentmultiphase composite system of resident magma, wallrock, and recharge reservoirs is tracked by rigorous self-consistent thermodynamic modeling. A Recharge-Assimilation (Assimilated partial melt or Stoped blocks)-Fractional Crystallization (R n AS n FC; n tot ≤ 30) scenario is computed by minimization or maximization of appropriate thermodynamic potentials using the family of rhyolite-and pMELTS engines coupled to an Excel Visual Basic interface. In MCS, during isobaric cooling and crystallization, resident magma thermally interacts with wallrock that is in internal thermodynamic equilibrium. Wallrock partial melt above a user-defined percolation threshold is homogenized (i.e., brought in to chemical potential equilibrium) with resident magma. Crystals that form become part of a cumulate reservoir that remains thermally connected but chemically isolated from resident melt. Up to 30 instances (n ≤ 30) of magma mixing by recharge and/or bulk assimilation of stoped wallrock blocks can occur in a single simulation; each recharge magma or stoped block has a unique user-defined composition and thermal state. Recharge magmas and stoped blocks hybridize (equilibrate) with resident melt, yielding a single new melt composition and temperature. MCS output includes major and trace element concentrations and isotopic ratios (Sr, Nd, Hf, Pb, Os, and O as defaults) of wallrock, recharge magma/stoped blocks, resident magma melt, and cumulates. The chemical formulae of equilibrium crystalline phases in the cumulate reservoir, wallrock, and recharge magmas/stoped blocks are also output. Depending on the selected rhyolite-MELTS engine, the composition and properties of a possible supercritical fluid phase (H 2 O and/or CO 2 ) are also tracked. Forward modeling of theoretical magma systems and suites of igneous rocks provides quantitative insight into key questions in igneous petrology such as mantle versus crustal contributions to terrestrial magmas, the record of magmatism preserved in cumulates and exsolved fluids, and the chronology of RASFC processes that may be recorded by crystal populations, melt inclusions, and whole rocks. Here, we describe the design of the MCS software that focuses on major element compositions and phase equilibria (MCS-PhaseEQ). Case studies that involve fractional crystallization, magma recharge + mixing, and crustal contamination of a depleted basalt that resides in average upper crust illustrate the major element and phase equilibria consequences of these processes and highlight the rich array of data produced by MCS. The cases presented here, which represent an infinitesimal fraction of possible RASFC processes and bulk compositions, show that the rec...

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Episyenites are sub-solidus, quartz-depleted alkali-feldspar-rich rocks. They form veins and lenticular bodies in granitoid rocks and migmatites in a late-to post-orogenic or anorogenic setting. Leaching of quartz is usually a response to a flux of weakly saline hydrothermal solution in circulation cells above cooling intrusions, where sufficient fluid-rock ratios and thermal gradients are achieved. Fluid Si-undersaturation is achieved by rapid cooling within the field of retrograde Si solubility or by temperature and pressure increase outside retrograde conditions. Some quartz may also be consumed in metasomatic reactions and in response to pressure fluctuation in sealed episyenite bodies. The small size and overall rarity of episyenites imply that conditions for episyenite formation are not commonly encountered in the crust. In addition to quartz depletion, episyenites record complex histories of metasomatic alteration and hydrothermal mineral growth. Nearly all episyenites have undergone Na-metasomatism, which may have led to the formation of nearly monomineralic albitite, and which is occasionally followed by late K-metasomatism, phyllic alteration, and argillization. Depending on the effectiveness of later compaction, recrystallization and vug-filling episyenites may preserve the macroscopic porosity formed by quartz dissolution and brittle deformation. Vuggy episyenites can act as significant sinks for metals carried by crustal fluids and host many significant U, Sn, and Au deposits worldwide. Rare earth-critical syenitic fenites around alkaline intrusions share mineralogical and genetic traits with episyenites.

Na-metasomatic augite and aegirine-augite episyenites are hosted by subalkaline amphibole granites in the 1.644 Ga Suomenniemi rapakivi granite complex, southeastern Finland. In an examined drill core, episyenites are bordered by up to 50cm-wide zones of Na-enriched augite-bearing granite in which alkali feldspar forms rims on plagioclase, and aggregates of augite and magnetite have formed by fluid-induced dehydration of hastingsite and biotite. In the episyenites, quartz has been partially removed, alkali feldspar (An <1 Ab 50 Or 50 ) and plagioclase have been partially recrystallized to granoblastic polygonal aggregates, and clinopyroxene (augite or aegirine-augite) has coarsened and been enriched in the aegirine component. Mass balance modeling implies addition of mainly Na, depletion of Si, F, Rb, Ba, Sr and 10-20% volume loss (by quartz dissolution) in the episyenitized zones in the drill core. Quartz-depletion and recrystallization may have been caused by several superimposed stages of alteration, probably related to voluminous dike-and A-type granite magmatism in the Suomenniemi area 10-15 m.y. after the emplacement of the Suomenniemi complex. Because of the coarse recrystallization textures and near-solidus recrystallization temperatures, distinguishing these fenite-like metasomatic rocks from igneous syenites is not trivial. In epizonal A-type granite complexes, high-temperature episyenites may be more common than currently thought.