Behaviour of Volatiles and Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction Zones

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (18 June 2021) | Viewed by 13724

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
Interests: volatiles; subduction zones; trace element and stable isotope geochemistry; serpentinites; olivine; nominally anhydrous minerals; inclusions in diamonds; analytical geochemistry

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Guest Editor
Department of Geology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA
Interests: mantle geochemistry; volatiles; stable isotope geochemistry; magmatic plumbing system evolution; magmatic timescales

Special Issue Information

Subduction zones are amongst the most important manifestations of plate tectonics on Earth. Specifically, tectonic recycling of the oceanic lithosphere is a key control of the volatile element distribution between the Earth’s surface and the Earth’s interior. Volcanic arcs associated with subduction zones degas deeply subducted volatiles back to the Earth’s surface and sustain Earth’s habitability, whilst the volatile return flux into the deep mantle determines the long-term evolution of the crust, oceans, and atmosphere. The release of slab fluids during prograde metamorphic reactions plays a key role in subduction zone volatile processing. Due to the transient nature of slab fluids, their sources and pathways are commonly tracked using fluid-mobile elements (FME) such as halogens, lithium, boron, and various metals including alkalis. Despite considerable advances during the last decades in our understanding of volatile recycling, the nature of subduction-related geochemical exchanges and associated fluxes in and out of the deep Earth, their mineralogical and redox controls, as well as the nature and the fingerprint of the slab-derived fluids, are still poorly constrained.

This Special Issue aims to attract studies of the path of volatiles and fluid-mobile elements from the Earth’s surface reservoirs to the upper mantle or back to the surface. We invite natural, experimental, and theoretical studies from geochemists, petrologists, mineralogists, and geophysicists to cover this topic from different perspectives. Potential topics to be addressed are as follows:

(1) transport mechanisms of volatiles and FME in subduction zone settings; (2) incorporation mechanisms of volatiles and FME in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) and their effect on mineral properties and mantle rheology; (3) high-pressure and temperature studies of volatile-bearing phases; (4) volatile and FME abundances in exhumed high- and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks and their implication for subduction-related volatile recycling; (5) redox effects of (de)volatilization reactions in subducting slab and overlying mantle wedge.

Dr. Jan C.M. De Hoog
Dr. Kristina Walowski
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • subduction recycling
  • volatile reservoirs
  • fluid-mobile elements
  • nominally anhydrous minerals
  • fluid processes
  • redox reactions

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 7006 KiB  
Article
Halogens in Eclogite Facies Minerals from the Western Gneiss Region, Norway
by Lewis Hughes, Simon Cuthbert, Alex Quas-Cohen, Lorraine Ruzié-Hamilton, Alison Pawley, Giles Droop, Ian Lyon, Romain Tartèse and Ray Burgess
Minerals 2021, 11(7), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11070760 - 14 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3323
Abstract
Ultra-high-pressure (UHP) eclogites and ultramafites and associated fluid inclusions from the Western Gneiss Region, Norwegian Caledonides, have been analysed for F, Cl, Br and I using electron-probe micro-analysis, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and neutron-irradiated noble gas mass spectrometry. Textures of multi-phase and [...] Read more.
Ultra-high-pressure (UHP) eclogites and ultramafites and associated fluid inclusions from the Western Gneiss Region, Norwegian Caledonides, have been analysed for F, Cl, Br and I using electron-probe micro-analysis, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and neutron-irradiated noble gas mass spectrometry. Textures of multi-phase and fluid inclusions in the cores of silicate grains indicate formation during growth of the host crystal at UHP. Halogens are predominantly hosted by fluid inclusions with a minor component from mineral inclusions such as biotite, phengite, amphibole and apatite. The reconstructed fluid composition contains between 11.3 and 12.1 wt% Cl, 870 and 8900 ppm Br and 6 and 169 ppm I. F/Cl ratios indicate efficient fractionation of F from Cl by hydrous mineral crystallisation. Heavy halogen ratios are higher than modern seawater by up to two orders of magnitude for Br/Cl and up to three orders of magnitude for I/Cl. No correlation exists between Cl and Br or I, while Br and I show good correlation, suggesting that Cl behaved differently to Br and I during subduction. Evolution to higher Br/Cl ratios is similar to trends defined by eclogitic hydration reactions and seawater evaporation, indicating preferential removal of Cl from the fluid during UHP metamorphism. This study, by analogy, offers a field model for an alternative source (continental crust) and mechanism (metasomatism by partial melts or supercritical fluids) by which halogens may be transferred to and stored in the sub-continental lithospheric mantle during transient subduction of a continental margin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behaviour of Volatiles and Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction Zones)
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20 pages, 8834 KiB  
Article
Channelized CO2-Rich Fluid Activity along a Subduction Interface in the Paleoproterozoic Wutai Complex, North China Craton
by Bin Wang, Wei Tian, Bin Fu and Jia-Qi Fang
Minerals 2021, 11(7), 748; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11070748 - 9 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2816
Abstract
Greenschist facies metabasite (chlorite schist) and metasediments (banded iron formation (BIF)) in the Wutai Complex, North China Craton recorded extensive fluid activities during subduction-related metamorphism. The pervasive dolomitization in the chlorite schist and significant dolomite enrichment at the BIF–chlorite schist interface support the [...] Read more.
Greenschist facies metabasite (chlorite schist) and metasediments (banded iron formation (BIF)) in the Wutai Complex, North China Craton recorded extensive fluid activities during subduction-related metamorphism. The pervasive dolomitization in the chlorite schist and significant dolomite enrichment at the BIF–chlorite schist interface support the existence of highly channelized updip transportation of CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids. Xenotime from the chlorite schist has U concentrations of 39–254 ppm and Th concentrations of 121–2367 ppm, with U/Th ratios of 0.11–0.62, which is typical of xenotime precipitated from circulating hydrothermal fluids. SHRIMP U–Th–Pb dating of xenotime determines a fluid activity age of 1.85 ± 0.07 Ga. The metasomatic dolomite has δ13CV-PDB from −4.17‰ to −3.10‰, which is significantly lower than that of carbonates from greenschists, but similar to the fluid originated from Rayleigh fractionating decarbonation at amphibolite facies metamorphism along the regional geotherm (~15 °C/km) of the Wutai Complex. The δ18OV-SMOW values of the dolomite (12.08–13.85‰) can also correspond to this process, considering the contribution of dehydration. Based on phase equilibrium modelling, we ascertained that the hydrothermal fluid was rich in CO2, alkalis, and silica, with X(CO2) in the range of 0.24–0.28. All of these constraints suggest a channelized CO2-rich fluid activity along the sediment–basite interface in a warm Paleoproterozoic subduction zone, which allowed extensive migration and sequestration of volatiles (especially carbon species) beneath the forearc. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behaviour of Volatiles and Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction Zones)
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17 pages, 10629 KiB  
Article
Decarbonation Reactions Involving Ankerite and Dolomite under upper Mantle P,T-Parameters: Experimental Modeling
by Yuliya V. Bataleva, Aleksei N. Kruk, Ivan D. Novoselov, Olga V. Furman and Yuri N. Palyanov
Minerals 2020, 10(8), 715; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10080715 - 13 Aug 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3822
Abstract
An experimental study aimed at the modeling of dolomite- and ankerite-involving decarbonation reactions, resulting in the CO2 fluid release and crystallization of Ca, Mg, Fe garnets, was carried out at a wide range of pressures and temperatures of the upper mantle. Experiments [...] Read more.
An experimental study aimed at the modeling of dolomite- and ankerite-involving decarbonation reactions, resulting in the CO2 fluid release and crystallization of Ca, Mg, Fe garnets, was carried out at a wide range of pressures and temperatures of the upper mantle. Experiments were performed using a multi-anvil high-pressure apparatus of a “split-sphere” type, in CaMg(CO3)2-Al2O3-SiO2 and Ca(Mg,Fe)(CO3)2-Al2O3-SiO2 systems (pressures of 3.0, 6.3 and 7.5 GPa, temperature range of 950–1550 °C, hematite buffered high-pressure cell). It was experimentally shown that decarbonation in the dolomite-bearing system occurred at 1100 ± 20 °C (3.0 GPa), 1320 ± 20 °C (6.3 GPa), and 1450 ± 20 °C (7.5 GPa). As demonstrated by mass spectrometry, the fluid composition was pure CO2. Composition of synthesized garnet was Prp83Grs17, with main Raman spectroscopic modes at 368–369, 559–562, and 912–920 cm−1. Decarbonation reactions in the ankerite-bearing system were realized at 1000 ± 20 °C (3.0 GPa), 1250 ± 20 °C (6.3 GPa), and 1400 ± 20 °C (7.5 GPa). As a result, the garnet of Grs25Alm40Prp35 composition with main Raman peaks at 349–350, 552, and 906–907 cm−1 was crystallized. It has been experimentally shown that, in the Earth’s mantle, dolomite and ankerite enter decarbonation reactions to form Ca, Mg, Fe garnet + CO2 assemblage at temperatures ~175–500 °C lower than CaCO3 does at constant pressures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behaviour of Volatiles and Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction Zones)
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12 pages, 3465 KiB  
Article
Formation of Spessartine and CO2 via Rhodochrosite Decarbonation along a Hot Subduction P-T Path
by Yuliya V. Bataleva, Aleksei N. Kruk, Ivan D. Novoselov and Yuri N. Palyanov
Minerals 2020, 10(8), 703; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10080703 - 7 Aug 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2737
Abstract
Experimental simulation of rhodochrosite-involving decarbonation reactions resulting in the formation of spessartine and CO2-fluid was performed in a wide range of pressures (P) and temperatures (T) corresponding to a hot subduction P-T path. Experiments were [...] Read more.
Experimental simulation of rhodochrosite-involving decarbonation reactions resulting in the formation of spessartine and CO2-fluid was performed in a wide range of pressures (P) and temperatures (T) corresponding to a hot subduction P-T path. Experiments were carried out using a multi-anvil high-pressure apparatus of a “split-sphere” type (BARS) in an MnCO3–SiO2–Al2O3 system (3.0–7.5 GPa, 850–1250 °C and 40–100 h.) with a specially designed high-pressure hematite buffered cell. It was experimentally demonstrated that decarbonation in the MnCO3–SiO2–Al2O3 system occurred at 870 ± 20 °C (3.0 GPa), 1070 ± 20 °C (6.3 GPa), and 1170 ± 20 °C (7.5 GPa). Main Raman spectroscopic modes of the synthesized spessartine were 349–350 (R), 552(υ2), and 906–907 (υ1) cm−1. As evidenced by mass spectrometry (IRMS) analysis, the fluid composition corresponded to pure CO2. It has been experimentally shown that rhodochrosite consumption to form spessartine + CO2 can occur at conditions close to those of a hot subduction P-T path but are 300–350 °C lower than pyrope + CO2 formation parameters at constant pressures. We suppose that the presence of rhodocrosite in the subducting slab, even as solid solution with Mg,Ca-carbonates, would result in a decrease of the decarbonation temperatures. Rhodochrosite decarbonation is an important reaction to explain the relationship between Mn-rich garnets and diamonds with subduction/crustal isotopic signature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behaviour of Volatiles and Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction Zones)
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