Mid-ocean ridges account for more than 75% of the annual magmatic output of planet earth and are a critical piece of the plate tectonic model. Understanding the mantle melting process beneath ridges is essential for discerning basic physical and chemical processes of the earth. For instance, ridges play an intrinsic role in the geochemical flux balance for many elements on the earth and provide a tectonic framework for investigating the physical process of solid mantle flow. Ridges are also the simplest tectonic regime to study the mantle melting process because interactions with the lithosphere are thought to be minimal. Yet...

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