Introduction
  Textures in igneous rocks may record process histories during evolution of igneous rocks. For example, deformation processes and the types of deformation in magma chambers can be interpreted by studying igneous fabrics (e.g. Paterson et al, 1991), and the relative rates of nucleation and crystal growth can be inferred by observing crystal size distributions (CSDs) of igneous rocks (e.g. Cashman and Marsh, 1988). In spite of these benefits from textural studies in igneous rocks, texture-based interpretations on processes and conditions have been unreliable or difficult due to a lack of thorough knowledge of the links between processes and textures. This is partly because of the slow kinetics of processes in silicate melts, which makes it difficult or impossible to simulate natural processes in experiments as discussed by McBirney (1993).

Experiments using an artificial magmatic system were carried out in this study with the purpose of strengthening the links between processes and textures. The experimental technique of synkinematic microscopy was employed, since textural development at any instant can be observed and recorded so that textural development and related processes can be incorporated into the interpretation of final textures instead of the textural development being guessed.

Fourteen time-lapse movies obtained from the experiments on the artificial magmatic system will be discussed. The movies consist of two groups. The first group of the movies is about textural development at zero strain rate, and the second group is about the textural development during deformation. Much of the description of the movies discussed in this paper is given by Means and Park (1994), Park (1994), Park & Means (1996), and Park & Means (1997).
 
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