Quantifying the timescales of current geological processes is critical for constraining the physical mechanisms operating on the Earth today. Since the Earth s origin 4.55 billion years ago magmatic processes have continued to shape the Earth, producing the major reservoirs that exist today (core, mantle, crust, oceans and atmosphere) and promoting their continued evolution. But key questions remain. When did the core form and how quickly? How are magmas produced in the mantle, and how rapidly do they travel towards the surface? How long do magmas reside in the crust, differentiating and interacting with the host rocks to yield the diverse set of igneous rocks we see today? How fast are volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere? This book addresses these and other questions by reviewing the latest advances in a wide range of Earth Science disciplines: from the measurement of short-lived radionuclides to the study of element diffusion in crystals and numerical modelling of magma behaviour. It will be invaluable reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as igneous petrologists, mineralogists and geochemists involved in the study of igneous rocks and processes.

Quantifying the timescales of current geological processes iscritical for constraining the physical mechanisms operating on theEarth today. Since the Earth's origin 4.55 billion years agomagmatic processes have continued to shape the Earth, producing themajor reservoirs that exist today (core, mantle, crust, oceans andatmosphere) and promoting their continued evolution. But keyquestions remain. When did the core form and how quickly? How aremagmas produced in the mantle, and how rapidly do they traveltowards the surface? How long do magmas reside in the crustdifferentiating and interacting with the host rocks to yield thediverse set of igneous rocks we see today? How fast are volcanicgases such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere?This book addresses these and other questions by reviewing thelatest advances in a wide range of Earth Science disciplines: fromthe measurement of short-lived radionuclides to the study ofelement diffusion in crystals and numerical modelling of magmabehaviour. It will be invaluable reading for advanced undergraduateand graduate students, as well as igneous petrologistsmineralogists and geochemists involved in the study of igneousrocks and processes.

List of Contributors.Introduction to the Timescales of Magmatic Processes (AnthonyDosseto, Simon P. Turner, Fidel Costa and James A. VanOrman).1 Extinct Radionuclides and the Earliest Differentiation of theEarth and Moon (G. Caro and T. Kleine).2 Diffusion Constraints on Rates of Melt Production in theMantle (James A. Van Orman and Alberto E. Saal).3 Melt Production in the Mantle: Constraints from U-series(Bernard Bourdon and Tim Elliott).4 Formulations for Simulating the Multiscale Physics of MagmaAscent (Craig O'Neill and Marc Spiegelman).5 Melt Transport from the Mantle to the CrustUranium-Series Isotopes (Simon P. Turner and BernardBourdon).6 Rates of Magma Ascent: Constraints from Mantle-DerivedXenoliths (Suzanne Y. O'Reilly and W.L. Griffin).7 Time Constraints from Chemical Equilibration in MagmaticCrystals (Fidel Costa and Daniel Morgan).8 Magma Cooling and Differentiation - Uranium-seriesIsotopes (Anthony Dosseto and Simon P. Turner).9 Defining Geochemical Signatures and Timescales of MeltingProcesses in the Crust: An Experimental Tale of Melt SegregationMigration and Emplacement (Tracy Rushmer and KurtKnesel).10 Timescales Associated with Large Silicic Magma Bodies(Olivier Bachmann).11 Timescales of Magma Degassing (Kim Berlo, James E. Gardnerand Jonathan D. Blundy).Index.Colour plates.