Bowen's Reaction Series and Phase Diagrams

Earth Science Extras

by Russ Colson

The illustration of Bowen's reactions series above contains a lot of summarized understanding, including compositional information about different kinds of common igneous rocks, which minerals are most likely to occur in different types of common igneous rocks, melting temperatures for different types of igneous rocks, a sense of the progression (evolution) of igneous rocks from silica-poor mafic rocks toward silica-rich sialic rocks, as well as other information. In fact, the sequence of minerals in Bowen's reaction series provides a rough model for stability of minerals in weathering or soil environments, with the minerals at higher temperature (most different from the weathering environment) being least stable and those at lower temperatures being most stable.

 

The questions below are based on the lecture "Bowen's Reaction Series and Phase Diagrams." Feel free to use your notes from that lecture in figuring out the answers.

 last updated 1/7/2023.   Text and pictures are the property of Russ Colson, except for the water-salt phase diagram (unknown source).