Thermodynamic Modelling of Mineral Growth – Implication for Metamorphic Rates

Over the recent years, there has been a significant development in the numerical tools that are used in the thermodynamic and kinetic modelling of metamorphic assemblages. Inspired by the materials science community, different approaches of mineral growth have been suggested. Out of the multitude of approaches, two stand out as the most widely used: i) the phase field method and ii) the sharp interphase method. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and can be used to tackle various problems.

In this presentation, I will present the main methods used in mineral growth modelling along with their distinctive features. I will focus on the sharp-interface method since it allows direct comparison with mineral chemistry and thermodynamic data. Recent development on that field (e.g. Stroh et al., 2025) allows the forward modelling of growing/consuming crystals along with their diffusional response. This approach allows the hypothesis testing for various geothermobarometry and isotope chronology systems. The direct comparison of the measured mineral compositions together with their mineral equilibria modelling offers a self-consistent framework of the timescales of metamorphic processes. Using this framework, various scenarios are investigated and the potential pitfalls are discussed.

 

References

Stroh, A., Aellig, P.S., Moulas, E., 2025. Numerical modelling of diffusion-limited mineral  growth for geospeedometry applications. Geosci. Model Dev. 18, 10203–10220. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-10203-2025