magmasource.caltech.edu

Links to MELTS software and other tools available from the OFM Research Inc. site have been relocated to the alphaMELTS links page (see right).

Software for construction of standard phase diagrams and equilibrium phase diagrams (a.k.a. pseudosections) etc.; there is more emphasis on metamorphic phases in the thermodynamic databases and solution models than in MELTS, but they may still be useful for igneous systems:

• The THERMOCALC software of Tim Holland and Roger Powell can be downloaded here. The THERMOCALC website, which is maintained by Richard White, includes lots of documentation and examples for getting started.
• The Perple_X interface, written by James Connolly, may be used with a variety of underlying thermodynamic databases and solution models. Note that some caution should be exercised when combining data and models (see comments within datafiles). In particular, we strongly discourage mixing (p)MELTS liquid end members with solids from the Holland & Powell thermodynamic databases.
• THERIAK-DOMINO is a suite of programs from Christian de Capitani and is particularly useful for calculating pseudosections. The package contains documentation, examples and alternative internally consistent thermodynamic databases / solution models based on the work of Holland & Powell and of Berman and co-workers.

Searchable databases of thermodynamic and geochemical data:

• The EarthChem website hosts a number of databases that are maintained by the IEDA Research Group. It includes the EarthChem Portal where users may simultaneously search multiple geochemical datasets including PetDB (ocean floor igneous and metamorphic rocks), GEOROC (volcanic rocks and mantle xenoliths), DeepLith (deep crustal and mantle xenoliths) and more.
• The GERM Reservoir Database contains summary data, such as elemental concentrations and isotopic ratios, for geochemical reservoirs in the Earth and across the Solar System.
• The GERM Partition Coefficient (Kd) Database contains experimental and empirical partition coefficient data and may be searched by rock type, mineral and element.
• The traceDs Portal accesses a trace element experimental database, created by Roger Neilson, and Mark Ghiorso. The database has been integrated with the 'Library of Experimental Phase Relations' (LEPR), which comprises liquid and solid phase equilibria for natural and, to a lesser extent, synthetic igneous systems. A wide range of experimental petrology laboratories are represented by the current list of references and the data include, but are not limited to, constraints used in the calibration of rhyolite-MELTS (Gualda et al., 2012), the mixed H₂O-CO₂ fluid model (Ghiorso & Gualda, 2015), and the provisional xMELTS model (see Q7). Complex searches may be configured involving, for example, experimental conditions (P, T, fO₂, duration, apparatus...) and constraints on the CIPW norm, Mg#, wt% or other compositional parameters of the bulk system or of individual phases. The LEPR data entry portal may also be used for private online storage of experimental results with, or without, a view to eventual publication. As a follow up to the recent DCO (EPC) and ENKI Workshop, Paula is working on the traceDs web interface (particularly the data entry side) before its eventual transfer to IEDA control. Please contact her with any queries, suggestions or bug reports (see below).
• The pMELTS database is comprehensive repository of all the experimental results used to calibrate pMELTS, of which the MELTS calibration data are a subset. Search and download options are more limited for the pMELTS database than for LEPR but there are a few studies in the former that are not (yet) in the latter.

Teaching resources for thermodynamics, petrology and geochemistry (more coming soon):

• The NAGT On the Cutting Edge website contains a wealth of information and resources for teachers in all aspects of geosciences. In particular, the Teaching Phase Equlibria module contains information ranging from explanations of fundamental concepts of thermodynamics and phase diagrams to introduction to advanced thermodynamic software, such asTHERMOCALC and MELTS. The Petrology and Geochemistry collections also contain Thermodynamics / Phase Equilibria sections, plus numerous other teaching activities and exercises (including several that use data downloaded from repositories mentioned above).

Most of these have been employed in development of this website, and the tools it hosts, and are listed in acknowledgement of just how useful they have been (thank-you, whoever you are!):

• w3schools.com is a good one-stop-shop for getting started with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PhP, XML and much more. Note that the site is not affiliated with the W3C consortium and that some suggestions on w3schools would not be considered 'best practice' amongst web professionals (e.g. see here). But for the rest of us, w3schools can be a useful reference.
• The phase diagram movies would not have been possible without the PDF Toolkit, SWFTools, the Ming Library and especially gazbming's excellent Ming Flash Examples and Tutorials using PHP site (no longer available).
• This introduction to Collapsible Menus and this Use Gmail to Reduce Word HTML File Size tip (scroll down a bit to see it) made publishing documentation online a sinch. Unfortunately, Google Docs has changed their file format so that this trick no longer works.
• If you want to automate plotting of MELTS results, say, but do not want to use commercial software, such as MATLAB^TM, then GMT may be a viable alternative. GMT is the work of Paul Wessel and Walter Smith. It is primarily a mapping program but can also be used for x-y plots, histograms and much more; a Cookbook of 30 example scripts is provided. Windows users who do not want to use DOS batch files or Cygwin might be interested in UGESCE, which is provided by Thorsten Becker. This VirtualBox Linux (Fedora) installation includes, amongst other things, a copy of GMT and a graphical user interface for GMT, called iGMT.
• Jing (for Windows and Mac) and recordMyDesktop (an optional package within many Linux distributions) are both free and easy to use software programs for taking screenshots and recording screencasts. Apowersoft also has a Free Online Screen Recorder for Mac and Windows, with no watermark if you sign up, and a review of other software for Linux on their blog.