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We investigate numerically some thermomechanical conditions for the development of crustal scale diapirism and convection in a heterogeneous continental crust independently from the action of regional tectonics. Here, we consider a hot crust, with unmolten and partially molten domains of specific temperature and strain-rate dependent power-law rheologies. We take advantage of the volume of fluid (VOF) method to capture the coalescence and separation of deformable inclusions in the partially molten domain. The inclusions, of several hundred metres in size, are more or less dense and viscous with respect to the ambient medium (they also behave with a power-law rheology). We restrict our study to a 20 Myr time scale, during which gravitational dynamics may dominate over lateral tectonics and lithospheric thermal re-equilibration. The motion of these inclusions during the development of gravitational …