alphaMELTS 1.9
MELTS links
Software and tools from from Mark Ghiorso and others
The original 'MELTS' software program was a graphical user interface (GUI) for calculations using the MELTS thermodynamic model (Ghiorso & Sack, 1995), and later also the pMELTS one (Ghiorso et al., 2002). The GUI, now known as Rhyolite-MELTS, is still available from OFM Research and can be run on Mac, Linux and Windows. Some functionality, in particular the plotting tools, is disabled (see here) and the executables are no longer updated for bugfixes etc. MELTS for Excel and easyMelts are easy-to-use, modern alternatives to the GUI with some plotting capabilities built-in that are still being activiely developed / maintained.
If you are new to the (Rhyolite-)MELTS GUI then we recommend you try easyMelts instead, as it has the same capabilities - plus working plots - in a modern and easy-to-use package. Otherwise, for an updated link to the Linux version of Rhyolite-MELTS that can also be used on Windows, see the box to the right.
Also linked here are ways to visualize phase relations and interrogate end-member properties for the MELTS family of models (and others), tools for special calculations, and add-ons that make running alphaMELTS or the Rhyolite-MELTS GUI more convenient. If you are trying to recreate older MELTS calculations, you will need to use alphaMELTS 1.X; otherwise any of the software linked here and/or alphaMELTS version 2 will be more robust.
- easyMelts is a brand new GUI application
for running MELTS models on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It was written by Einari Suikkanen,
who also developed the Magma Chamber Simulator Visualizer (MCSV) while at Helsinki University, Finland (see right).
easyMelts was designed with the philosphy that software tools should be as intuitive and easy as possible, and it should be
an approachable alternative to more advanced tools in the MELTS family. Executables and operating instructions are
currently hosted in a
GitList repository on the MAGMA@Caltech site.
- easyMelts requires a 64-bit operating system, and OpenGL 3.3 compliant graphics (most computers produced in the last 10 years or so satisfy this requirement). Installation is as simple as unzipping the file.
- Feature-wise, easyMelts is comparable to the Rhyolite-MELTS GUI, and it works for the Rhyolite-MELTS (1.0.2, 1.1.0, 1.2.0) and pMELTS models. It writes input and output files with the same formats used by Rhyolite-MELTS and alphaMELTS 2. It allows you to browse details for all phases in each calculation step and displays plots at runtime.
- Like the GUI and Melts-batch (the MELTS part of the MCS) easyMelts is geared towards cooling and crystallization more than melting processes. alphaMELTS will likely be a better long term option for modelling mantle melting. Even if this your ultimate goal, though, easyMelts is an excellent introduction to MELTS in general, and the MELTS input file (.melts) format in particular.
- In easyMelts you always specify the number of steps, rather than e.g. a target temperature. To use .melts files output by easyMelts in other MELTS software you may need to add something like "Final Temperature: ...", but otherwise the file should run as is.
- MELTS for Excel provides a graphical user interface to set up, run, retrieve, and display calculations made with the MELTS family
of algorithms on Windows, albeit with more limited functionality. There are a few things to note:
- Make sure that you have the latest version of the MELTS for Excel file, which points to a new cloud server; June 18th, 2024 at the time of writing. The file on the OFM Research site points to the old server, which used to also host the Supplemental Calculator and is no longer accessible (see this forum post).
- This version does work in more recent versions of Excel. It also implements the mixed H2O-CO2 fluid model (i.e. rhyolite-MELTS 1.0.2, 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 are available), as well as the pMELTS model.
- Only equilibrium crystallization calculations can be performed; routines for fractionation and assimilation are not currently available in any version.
- Full MELTS for Excel calculations require an Internet connection; see Gualda & Ghiorso (2015) for instructions and examples.
- Strategies for troubleshooting MELTS for Excel are described in this forum post. The single most useful thing to try is restarting Excel. If you are running calculations on a P-T grid, try increasing T1 (and make sure T1 > T2).
- The user can import text files output by the Rhyolite-MELTS GUI, and automatically create tables and plots similar to those generated by full MELTS for Excel calculations; this 'Combine tbl' function is available offline. As of April 24th, 2018, the 'Combine tbl' tool works on Mac with Excel 2016 (though see below).
- Combine tbl is a pared-down version of MELTS_Excel containing only the
'Combine tbl' function, that can work on all versions of Excel, Windows or Mac. After downloading, just double-click to extract the Excel file from the .zip archive:
MELTS_Excel-Combine_tbl_1.zip,
MELTS_Excel-Combine_tbl_2.zip
- You should use 'Combine tbl 2' if possible, and definitely if you are using a Mac with Excel 2016. You can also use it on Windows if you do not want the full MELTS for Excel funtionality.
- You should use 'Combine tbl 1' if you are using a Mac computer with Excel 2011 or if 'Combine tbl 2' does not work. You may also want to use it for older versions of Excel on Windows.
- Also included in the GitList repository is a copy of MELTS for Excel with a fix to the 'Combine tbl' routine on Mac (and a fix to the P-T grid calculation on Windows, as described in this forum post).
- Meltsout is another useful tool for parsing the 'melts.out' file from the rhyolite-MELTS GUI. program. A 64-bit Linux executable, built on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, is included in the GitList repository. This executable can be used on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, which may not have gcc installed by default. On other Linux systems and MacOS, Meltsout can be simply built by copying and pasting the command given in the README.TXT file (or contact us for help; see below). Use the ZIP or TAR button to download all the files, including the executable. As of November 30th, 2017, the VirtualBox Linux installation available on the alphaMELTS download page comes with Meltsout pre-loaded. Thank-you to Jon Snow for providing the source code, README, and 32-bit Linux executable (built on Gentoo, and included in VM alphaMELTS).
- The Post-entrapment crystallization (PEC) correction prgram is the work of Victor Kress. The algorithm is described in Kress & Ghiorso (2004), and is consistent with the MELTS thermodyanmic model. The Brimstone website that hosted the software at UW is currently unreachable, and in any case only 32-bit Linux and Mac builds were available. The GitList repository has new 64-bit builds for Mac, Linux, and (native) Windows. Original documentation is included in the README, with minor updates. The PEC correction program is also discussed in this forum post. We thank Mark Ghiorso for providing the source code to build the 64-bit versions (as well as a 32-bit version that is included in the latest VM alphaMELTS).
- Tab-completion is available within the alphamelts menu in alphaMELTS versions 1.5 - 1.9
if Richard Kettlewell's with-readline program is installed.
The with-readline program is distributed under the terms of the Gnu Public License.
- As of February 5th, 2020, alphaMELTS 2 (beta) has built-in tab-completion on Mac, Linux and Windows; with-readline is only required for backwards compatbility in alphaMELTS 1.9 and earlier.
- On Mac, the easiest way to install with-readline is via Homebrew (see the alphaMELTS download page and forum).
- A .deb package for with-readline is provided with WSL alphaMELTS versions 1.8 and 1.9, and should work for other Debian-based systems.
You should be able to double-click the downloaded file to install it (if not, open a terminal,
navigate to the download folder, and type 'sudo dpkg -i with-readline*.deb').
- The alphaMELTS 1.8 version was built on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS: with-readline_0.1.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb.
- The alphaMELTS 1.9 version was built on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS: with-readline_0.1.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb.
- For other Linux systems, download the source code and follow the build instructions in the README.
Rhyolite-MELTS GUI
Magma
Chamber Simulator
PhasePlot
MagmaSat
Phase
Properties calculator
MELTS