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A diapir (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
, from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 diapeirein, to pierce through) is a type of intrusion
Intrusion

In geology, an intrusion is a body of igneous rock that has crystallized from molten magma below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the earth are called plutons, named for Pluto , the Roman mythology of the underworld....
 in which a more mobile and ductily-deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instability
Rayleigh-Taylor instability

The Rayleigh?Taylor instability, or RT instability , is an instability of an Interface between two fluids of different density, which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid....
-type structures in regions with low tectonic stress such as in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
 to narrow dike (geology)
Dike (geology)

A dike or dyke in geology is a type of sheet intrusion referring to any geologic body that cuts discordantly across* planar wall rock structures, such as bedding or foliation...
 dikes of material that move along tectonically-induced fractures in surrounding rock.






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Lavalampdark
A diapir (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
, from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 diapeirein, to pierce through) is a type of intrusion
Intrusion

In geology, an intrusion is a body of igneous rock that has crystallized from molten magma below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the earth are called plutons, named for Pluto , the Roman mythology of the underworld....
 in which a more mobile and ductily-deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instability
Rayleigh-Taylor instability

The Rayleigh?Taylor instability, or RT instability , is an instability of an Interface between two fluids of different density, which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid....
-type structures in regions with low tectonic stress such as in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
 to narrow dike (geology)
Dike (geology)

A dike or dyke in geology is a type of sheet intrusion referring to any geologic body that cuts discordantly across* planar wall rock structures, such as bedding or foliation...
 dikes of material that move along tectonically-induced fractures in surrounding rock. The term was introduced by the Romanian
Romanians

], 26 Nov 2004. Reprinted at , retrieved 18 Dec 2005.External links *...
 geologist
Geologist

For other uses, see Geologist .A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth and planets of the solar system ....
 Ludovic Mrazek, who was the first to understand the principle of salt intrusion and plasticity
Plasticity (physics)

In physics and materials science, plasticity describes the deformation of a material undergoing non-reversible changes of shape in response to applied forces....
. The term "diapir" may be applied to igneous structures, but it is more commonly applied to non-igneous, relatively cold materials, such as salt dome
Salt dome

A salt dome is a type of Dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock Stratum, forming a diapir....
s and mud
MUD

In Online game, a MUD , pronounced /m?d/, is a multi-user real-time virtual world described entirely in text. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, interactive fiction, and online chat....
 diapirs.

In addition to Earth-based observations, diapirism is thought to occur on Enceladus
Enceladus (moon)

'Enceladus' , is the sixth-largest Moons of Saturn of Saturn . It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager program spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s, very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface....
.

Diapirs commonly intrude vertically upward along fractures or zones of structural weakness through denser overlying rocks because of density
Density

The density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol of density is ....
 contrast between a less dense, lower rock mass and overlying denser rocks. The density contrast manifests as a force of buoyancy. The process is known as diapirism. The resulting structures are also referred to as piercement structures.

In the process, segments of the existing strata can be disconnected and pushed upwards. While moving higher, they retain much of their original properties such as pressure, which can be significantly different from that of the shallower strata they get pushed into. Such overpressured Floaters pose a significant risk when trying to drill
Well drilling

Well drilling is the process of drilling a hole in the ground for the extraction of a natural resource such as ground water, natural gas, or petroleum....
 through them.

Rock types such as evaporitic
Evaporite

Evaporites are water-soluble mineral sedimentary rock that result from the evaporation of bodies of surficial water. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks....
 salt deposits, and gas charged muds are potential sources of diapirs. Diapirs also form in the earth's mantle when a sufficient mass of hot, less dense magma
Magma

Magma is molten Rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles....
 assembles. Diapirism in the mantle
Mantle (geology)

The mantle is a part of an astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers....
 is thought to be associated with the development of large igneous province
Large igneous province

Large Igneous rock provinces were originally defined by Coffin and Eldholm as areas of Earth's crust that contain very large volumes of magmatic rocks erupted over extremely short geological time intervals of a few million years or less....
s and some mantle plume
Mantle plume

A mantle plume is an upwelling of abnormally hot rock within the Earth's mantle . As the heads of mantle plumes can partly melt when they reach shallow depths, they are thought to be the cause of volcano centers known as Hotspot and probably also to have caused flood basalts....
s.

Explosive, hot volatile
Volatiles

In planetary science, volatiles, are that group of elements and compounds with low boiling points that are associated with a planet's or moon's crust and/or atmosphere....
 rich magma or volcanic eruptions are referred to generally as diatreme
Diatreme

A diatreme is a Breccia filled volcanic pipe that was formed by a gaseous explosion. Diatremes often breach the surface and produce a tuff cone or a filled relatively shallow crater known as a maar or other volcanic pipes....
s. Diatremes are not usually associated with diapirs, as they are small-volume magmas which ascend by volatile plumes, not by density contrast with the surrounding mantle.

Economic importance of diapirs

Diapirs or piercement structures are structures resulting from the penetration of overlaying material. By pushing upward and piercing overlying rock layers, diapirs can form anticline
Anticline

In structural geology, an anticline is a Fold that is Convex set up and has its oldest Stratum at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up....
s, salt dome
Salt dome

A salt dome is a type of Dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock Stratum, forming a diapir....
s and other structures capable of trapping petroleum
Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
 and natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
. Igneous intrusions themselves are typically too hot to allow the preservation of preexisting hydrocarbon
Hydrocarbon

In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. With relation to chemical terminology, aromatic hydrocarbons or arenes, alkanes, alkenes and alkyne-based compounds composed entirely of carbon or hydrogen are referred to as "pure" hydrocarbons, whereas other hydrocarbons with bonded com...
s.

See also


  • Geyser
    Geyser

    A geyser is a hot spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The name geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb gj?sa, "to gush"....
  • Granite
    Granite

    Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
  • Granite dome
    Granite dome

    A granite dome is a Dome of granite, formed by Exfoliation ....
  • Hydrothermal vent
    Hydrothermal vent

    A hydrothermal vent is a fissure vent in a planet's surface from which Geothermal heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near volcano active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, and hotspot ....
  • Mud volcano
    Mud volcano

    The term mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity....
  • Salt tectonics
    Salt tectonics

    Salt tectonics is concerned with the geometries and processes associated with the presence of significant thicknesses of rock salt within a sequence of rocks....
  • salt dome
    Salt dome

    A salt dome is a type of Dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock Stratum, forming a diapir....