Principles of applied experimental igneous petrology: A comment on “Experimental constraints on the Skaergaard liquid line of descent” by Thy, Lesher, Nielsen, and Brooks, 2006, Lithos 92: 154–180

The foremost principles of experimental igneous petrology applied to natural rocks are here considered to be the following. First, only the mineral assemblages found at or near the experimental liquidus are relevant to fractional crystallization. Subliquidus assemblages of the same bulk composition can have little relevance to this process, owing to the closed system of the experiment. Second, in a closed system the natural mineral assemblages define the intensive parameters of T, P, and the activities of all components, including oxygen, which must constrain the experimental investigation. Extensive (mass-dependent) parameters do not define the compositions of the evolving liquids, which are solely controlled by successive liquidus phase assemblages. Third, the bulk compositions (rocks or mixtures) chosen for study must be able to yield at the liquidus the mineral compositions found in the natural occurrence. The study under discussion fails in all three of these desiderata. Subliquidus products of equilibrium crystallization and their masses were used to infer a differentiation history. Intensive parameters were constrained to an arbitrary choice of the FMQ buffer. Finally, the bulk compositions chosen for experiment can be shown beforehand (and as in the listed results) to yield olivine and plagioclase compositions far more refractory than in any known rock of the target intrusion.