GFÚ Research Seminar – Sam Poppe – How geological reality helps us model magma intrusion on the Moon, Mars and Earth

Sam Poppe (Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences)

How geological reality helps us model magma intrusion on the Moon, Mars and Earth

Abstract:

Understanding magma-induced deformation mechanisms and magma ascent paths towards the surface is essential in volcanic unrest monitoring on Earth and characterizing igneous plumbing systems on rocky planetary bodies throughout our Solar System. The majority of the used models assumes simplified theoretical laws of fluid dynamics and rock mechanics, including that planetary crust behaves linear-elastically. This presentation will show that such models ignore complex, but essential, magma-rock interactions observed in recent geological and experimental studies. New discrete element simulations show that magma-induced progressive host rock damage affect how fracture and displacement patterns change over time, and stress the role of different gravitational forces on planetary bodies of different masses. This work shows that models should account for the role of geological complexities when studying deformation processes induced by magma intrusion in the shallow crust of Earth, Mars, the Moon and other rocky planetary bodies.