pyMelt-PX: A Python Script for Modeling Melting of a Pyroxenite-Peridotite Bilithological Mantle

Authors

• Ana L. Jimenez Bustos, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Lynne J. Elkins

Committee Members

Richard Kettler, Erin Haacker, Cara Burberry

Date of this Version

12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Under the supervision of Professor Lynne J. Elkins

Lincoln, Nebraska, December 2025

Comments

Copyright 2025, Ana L. Jimenez Bustos. Used by permission

Abstract

The study of oceanic crust formation is a fundamental building block in our understanding of the processes of planetary formation, necessitating an understanding of the melt generation processes that help form oceanic crust. To aid in this purpose, we present pyMeltPX: a bilithological pyroxenite-peridotite mantle modeling script. Although the mantle is primarily comprised of peridotite, pyroxenite is a minor but ubiquitous feature of the mantle and can contribute a disproportionate amount of melt to crustal generation in mid-ocean ridge and ocean island basalt settings. Our model, pyMeltPX, is a python coded, extensible tool based on the Excel calculator by Lambart et al. (2016), Melt-PX. The equations that govern the model are semi-empirical: they are based on both experimental and thermodynamic modeling data. This model offers significant advantages over the Excel spreadsheet, as it allows for faster computation times for multiple compositions of pyroxenite and in the future could be integrated with other scripts that model similar processes.

Advisor: Lynne J. Elkins