Hydraulic Fracturing Mechanisms Leading to Self-Organization Within Dyke Swarms

Dykes are one of the most widespread mechanisms of magma transport in the brittle crust [1]. Some reach the surface to cause eruptions, but many also propagate laterally over large distances without breaching the surface. Among the most striking and widespread examples of these are giant continental dyke swarms, thought to originate from mantle-plume driven large igneous provinces [2–4]. Individual swarms contain hundreds to thousands of individual dykes that apparently grew laterally from a common source to attain lengths on the order of hundreds to thousands of kilometers. More than 100 of these dyke swarms are known on Earth and when combined, occur more than 300 times on Earth, Venus, and Mars [5]. Structure and geochemistry have been extensively studied for both giant dyke swarms (eg [4–12]) and smaller-scale swarms associated with local magma chambers and volcanic centers (eg [9, 13–17]).