Modelling the evolution of vein microstructure with phase‐field techniques – a first look

Abstract

Vein microstructures in the Earth's crust contain a wealth of information on the physical conditions of crystal growth, but correct interpretation requires an improved understanding of the processes involved. In this paper the processes involved in the formation of veins are briefly reviewed, and the possibilities of modelling these processes using the phase-field method are discussed. This technique, which is established in the computational materials science community to investigate crystallization processes, is shown to be a powerful tool to describe processes during vein formation and other geological processes involving crystal growth.

The evolution of crack seal vein and fracture networks in an evolving stress field: Insights from Discrete Element Models of fracture sealing

“…Beyond that, it is interesting to use the workflow to explore crack seal systems with heterogeneous vein strength and partly sealed veins [Laubach et al, 2004], possibly coupled with a phase field growth code to model the sealing of the vein and the growth of bridge crystals [Hubert et al, 2009;Ankit et al, 2013].…”

Phase‐field modeling of epitaxial growth of polycrystalline quartz veins in hydrothermal experiments

“…Different from former phase‐field approaches (Hubert et al . ; Ankit et al . ), the kinetic anisotropy is of pivotal importance in this model and will be related to experiments below.…”

“…(2), the kinetic anisotropy a kin ab ðnÞ takes into account the orientation dependency of growth rates. Different from former phase-field approaches (Hubert et al 2009;Ankit et al 2013), the kinetic anisotropy is of pivotal importance in this model and will be related to experiments below. For the kinetic coefficients, we restrict to two values x 0 sl for the quartzliquid and x 0 ss for the quartz-quartz interfaces (i.e.…”

“…Previously, Hubert et al . () used a PFM with orientation parameter and diffusion‐limited growth process for 10 grains in 2D. The results were qualitative, as no parameters adapted to a real mineral system were used.…”

“…It offers a convenient way to integrate thermodynamics of bulk phases and interfaces within a single kinetic approach, but needs a precise input for the related parameters (Moelans et al 2008). Previously, Hubert et al (2009) used a PFM with orientation parameter and diffusion-limited growth process for 10 grains in 2D. The results were qualitative, as no parameters adapted to a real mineral system were used.…”