Viscous constitutive relations of solid-liquid composites in terms of grain boundary contiguity: 1. Grain boundary diffusion control model

[1] Viscous constitutive relations of partially molten rocks deforming in the regime of grain boundary (GB) diffusion creep are derived theoretically on the basis of microstructural processes at the grain scale. The viscous constitutive relation developed in this study is based on contiguity as an internal state variable, which enables us to take into account the detailed effects of grain-scale melt distribution observed in experiments. Compared to the elasticities derived previously for the same microstructural model, the viscosities are much more sensitive to the presence of melt and variations in contiguity. As explored in this series of three companion papers, this ‘‘contiguity’’ model predicts that a very small amount of melt (f < 0.01) significantly reduces the bulk and shear viscosities. Furthermore, a large anisotropy in viscosity is produced by anisotropy in contiguity, which occurs in deforming partially molten rocks. These results have important implications for deformation and melt extraction at small melt fractions, as well as for shear-induced melt segregation. The viscous and elastic constitutive relations derived in terms of contiguity bridge microscopic grain-scale and macroscopic continuum properties. These constitutive relations are essential for investigating melt migration dynamics in a forward sense on the basis of the basic equations of two-phase dynamics and in an inverse sense on the basis of seismological observations.