Most silicic and some mafic magmas expand via second boiling if they crysta
llize at depths of about 10 km or less. The buildup of gas pressure due to
second boiling can be relieved by expulsion of melt out of the region of cr
ystallization, and this process of gas-driven filter pressing assists the c
rystallization differentiation of magmas. For gas-driven filter pressing to
be effective, the region of crystallization must inflate slowly relative t
o buildup of pressure and expulsion of melt. These conditions are satisfied
in undercooled magmatic inclusions and in thin sheets of primitive magma u
nderplating cooler magma reservoirs. Gas-driven filter pressing thereby add
s fractionated melt to magma bodies. Gas-driven filter pressing is probably
the dominant process by which highly evolved melts segregate from crystal
mush to form aplitic dikes in granitic plutons; this process could also acc
ount for the production of voluminous, crystal-poor rhyolites.