Rock Maker: an MS Excel™ spreadsheet for the calculation of rock compositions from proportional whole rock analyses, mineral compositions, and modal abundance

Rock Maker is a simple software tool that computes bulk rock compositions resulting from mixing or unmixing of rocks or minerals. The calculations describe the chemical expression of processes such as magma mixing, fractional crystallization, assimilation, residual melt extraction, or formation of solid solutions. Rock Maker can also be used for the elimination of thermodynamically inactive or unwanted chemical components from the whole rock composition, such as cores of porphyroblasts that are considered not to be in equilibrium with the matrix. The calculation of the resulting rock composition is essentially based on modal proportions and compositions of different components in rocks, which may include specific portions of the rock or individual mineral phases. Compositional data, obtained using XRF, ICPMS, EDS, or EPMA, may include major and trace element concentrations. Depending upon the nature of the problem to be solved, the concentrations of oxidic and elemental components can be added to, or subtracted from, each other, producing the calculated normalized whole rock composition after completion of the investigated process (mixing, unmixing, depletion, enrichment, etc.). Furthermore, the software allows the calculation of whole rock compositions from ideal mineral compositions, for which modal proportions can be chosen from pre-defined mineral compositions. The data set includes the most common rock forming minerals and allows the addition of further phases. This section can be used to calculate the approximate whole rock compositions from petrographic modal analysis. This part of Rock Maker is specifically suitable as a teaching tool that illustrates the interrelationship between mineral compositions, modes, and the corresponding whole rock compositions.