On the role of solute drag in reconciling laboratory and natural constraints on olivine grain growth kinetics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that incorporating solute drag into models of olivine grain growth explains differences between laboratory experiments and natural observations, improving predictive accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a combined full field and mean field modeling approach that explicitly accounts for solute drag effects on olivine grain growth kinetics.

Findings

Models accurately reproduce laboratory grain growth kinetics.

Predicted grain sizes match natural xenolith observations.

Solute drag reconciles laboratory and natural constraints.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of solute drag on grain growth (GG) kinetics in olivine-rich rocks through full field and mean field modelling. Considering a drag force exerted by impurities on grain boundary migration allows reconciling laboratory and natural constraints on olivine GG kinetics. Solute drag is implemented in a full field level-set framework and on a mean field model, which explicitly accounts for a grain size distribution. After calibration of the mean field model on full field results, both models are able to both reproduce laboratory GG kinetics and to predict grain sizes consistent with observations in peridotite xenoliths from different geological contexts.