scholarly journals Postmelting hydrogen enrichment in the oceanic lithosphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (24) ◽  
pp. eabf6071
Author(s):  
Veronique Le Roux ◽  
Benjamin M. Urann ◽  
Daniele Brunelli ◽  
Enrico Bonatti ◽  
Anna Cipriani ◽  
...  

The large range of H2O contents recorded in minerals from exhumed mantle rocks has been challenging to interpret, as it often records a combination of melting, metasomatism, and diffusional processes in spatially isolated samples. Here, we determine the temporal variations of H2O contents in pyroxenes from a 24-Ma time series of abyssal peridotites exposed along the Vema fracture zone (Atlantic Ocean). The H2O contents of pyroxenes correlate with both crustal ages and pyroxene chemistry and increase toward younger and more refractory peridotites. These variations are inconsistent with residual values after melting and opposite to trends often observed in mantle xenoliths. Postmelting hydrogen enrichment occurred by ionic diffusion during cryptic metasomatism of peridotite residues by low-degree, volatile-rich melts and was particularly effective in the most depleted peridotites. The presence of hydrous melts under ridges leads to widespread hydrogen incorporation in the oceanic lithosphere, likely lowering mantle viscosity compared to dry models.

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 2793-2819 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Meng ◽  
P. G. M. Hess ◽  
N. M. Mahowald ◽  
J. B. Yavitt ◽  
W. J. Riley ◽  
...  

Abstract. Methane emissions from natural wetlands and rice paddies constitute a large proportion of atmospheric methane, but the magnitude and year-to-year variation of these methane sources are still unpredictable. Here we describe and evaluate the integration of a methane biogeochemical model (CLM4Me; Riley et al., 2011) into the Community Land Model 4.0 (CLM4CN) in order to better explain spatial and temporal variations in methane emissions. We test new functions for soil pH and redox potential that impact microbial methane production in soils. We also constrain aerenchyma in plants in always-inundated areas in order to better represent wetland vegetation. Satellite inundated fraction is explicitly prescribed in the model, because there are large differences between simulated fractional inundation and satellite observations, and thus we do not use CLM4-simulated hydrology to predict inundated areas. A rice paddy module is also incorporated into the model, where the fraction of land used for rice production is explicitly prescribed. The model is evaluated at the site level with vegetation cover and water table prescribed from measurements. Explicit site level evaluations of simulated methane emissions are quite different than evaluating the grid-cell averaged emissions against available measurements. Using a baseline set of parameter values, our model-estimated average global wetland emissions for the period 1993–2004 were 256 Tg CH4 yr−1 (including the soil sink) and rice paddy emissions in the year 2000 were 42 Tg CH4 yr−1. Tropical wetlands contributed 201 Tg CH4 yr−1, or 78% of the global wetland flux. Northern latitude (>50 N) systems contributed 12 Tg CH4 yr−1. However, sensitivity studies show a large range (150–346 Tg CH4 yr−1) in predicted global methane emissions (excluding emissions from rice paddies). The large range is sensitive to (1) the amount of methane transported through aerenchyma, (2) soil pH (±100 Tg CH4 yr−1), and (3) redox inhibition (±45 Tg CH4 yr−1). Results are sensitive to biases in the CLMCN and to errors in the satellite inundation fraction. In particular, the high latitude methane emission estimate may be biased low due to both underestimates in the high-latitude inundated area captured by satellites and unrealistically low high-latitude productivity and soil carbon predicted by CLM4.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Manjón-Cabeza Córdoba ◽  
Maxim Ballmer

Abstract. The origin of intraplate volcanism is not explained by the plate tectonic theory, and several models have been put forward for explanation. One of these models involves Edge-Driven Convection (EDC), in which cold and thick continental lithosphere is juxtaposed to warm and thin oceanic lithosphere to trigger convective instability. To test whether EDC can produce long-lived high-volume magmatism, we run numerical models of EDC for a wide range of mantle properties and edge (i.e., the oceanic-continental transition) geometries. We find that the most important parameters that govern EDC are the rheological paramaters mantle viscosity η0 and activation energy Ea. However, even the maximum melting volumes found in our models are insufficient to account for island-building volcanism on old seafloor, such as at the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Also, beneath old seafloor, localized EDC-related melting commonly transitions into widespread melting due to small-scale sublithospheric convection, inconsistent with the distribution of volcanism at these volcanic chains. In turn, EDC is a good candidate to sustain the formation of small seamounts on young seafloor, as it is a highly transient phenomenon that occurs in all our models soon after initiation. In a companion paper, we investigate the implications of interaction of EDC with mantle-plume activity.


Solid Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-632
Author(s):  
Antonio Manjón-Cabeza Córdoba ◽  
Maxim D. Ballmer

Abstract. The origin of intraplate volcanism is not explained by plate tectonic theory, and several models have been put forward for explanation. One of these models involves edge-driven convection (EDC), in which cold and thick continental lithosphere is juxtaposed with warm and thin oceanic lithosphere to trigger convective instability. To test whether EDC can produce long-lived high-volume magmatism, we run numerical models of EDC for a wide range of mantle properties and edge (i.e., the oceanic–continental transition) geometries. We find that the most important parameters that govern EDC are the rheological parameters mantle viscosity η0 and activation energy Ea. However, even the maximum melting volumes predicted by our most extreme cases are insufficient to account for island-building volcanism on old seafloor, such as at the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde. Also, beneath old seafloor, localized EDC-related melting commonly transitions into widespread melting due to small-scale sublithospheric convection, inconsistent with the distribution of volcanism at these volcano chains. In turn, EDC is a good candidate to sustain the formation of small seamounts on young seafloor, as it is a highly transient phenomenon that occurs in all our models soon after initiation. In a companion paper, we investigate the implications of interaction of EDC with mantle plume activity (Manjón-Cabeza Córdoba and Ballmer, 2021).


2021 ◽  
pp. M56-2019-44
Author(s):  
Philip T. Leat ◽  
Aidan J. Ross ◽  
Sally A. Gibson

AbstractAbundant mantle-derived ultramafic xenoliths occur in Cenozoic (7.7-1.5 Ma) mafic alkaline volcanic rocks along the former active margin of West Antarctica, that extends from the northern Antarctic Peninsula to Jones Mountains. The xenoliths are restricted to post-subduction volcanic rocks that were emplaced in fore-arc or back-arc positions relative to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Antarctic Peninsula volcanic arc. The xenoliths are spinel-bearing, include harzburgites, lherzolites, wehrlites and pyroxenites, and provide the only direct evidence of the composition of the lithospheric mantle underlying most of the margin. The harzburgites may be residues of melt extraction from the upper mantle (in a mid-ocean ridge type setting), that accreted to form oceanic lithosphere, which was then subsequently tectonically emplaced along the active Gondwana margin. An exposed highly-depleted dunite-serpentinite upper mantle complex on Gibbs Island, South Shetland Islands, supports this interpretation. In contrast, pyroxenites, wehrlites and lherzolites reflect percolation of mafic alkaline melts through the lithospheric mantle. Volatile and incompatible trace element compositions imply that these interacting melts were related to the post-subduction magmatism which hosts the xenoliths. The scattered distribution of such magmatism and the history of accretion suggest that the dominant composition of sub-Antarctic Peninsula lithospheric mantle is likely to be harzburgitic.


2004 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 2011-2044 ◽  
Author(s):  
AKIRA ISHIKAWA ◽  
SHIGENORI MARUYAMA ◽  
TSUYOSHI KOMIYA

Abstract A varied suite of mantle xenoliths from Malaita, Solomon Islands, was investigated to constrain the evolution of the mantle beneath the Ontong Java Plateau. Comprehensive petrological and thermobarometric studies make it possible to identify the dominant processes that produced the compositional diversity and to reconstruct the lithospheric stratigraphy in the context of a paleogeotherm. P–T estimates show that both peridotites and pyroxenites can be assigned to a shallower or deeper origin, separated by a garnet-poor zone of 10 km between 90 and 100 km. This zone is dominated by refractory spinel harzburgites (Fo91–92), indicating the occurrence of an intra-lithospheric depleted zone. Shallower mantle (∼Moho to 95 km) is composed of variably metasomatized peridotite with subordinate pyroxenite derived from metacumulates. Deeper mantle (∼95–120 km) is represented by pyroxenite and variably depleted peridotites that are unevenly distributed; the least-depleted garnet lherzolite (Fo90–91) lies just below the garnet-poor depleted zone (∼100–110 km), whereas the presence of pyroxenite is restricted to the deepest region (∼110–120 km), together with relatively Fe-enriched garnet lherzolite (Fo87–88). This depth-related variation (including the depleted zone) can be explained by assuming that the degree of melting for a basalt–peridotite hybrid source was systematically different at each level of arrival depth within a single adiabatically ascending mantle plume: (1) the depleted zone at the top of the mantle plume, where garnet was totally consumed in the residual solid; (2) an intermediate part of the plume dominated by the least-depleted garnet lherzolite just above the depth of the peridotite solidus; (3) the deepest pyroxenite-rich zone, whose petrochemical variation is best explained by the interaction between peridotite and normative quartz-rich basaltic melt, below the solidus of peridotite and liquidus of basalt. We explain the obvious lack of pyroxenites at shallower depths as the effective extraction of hybrid melt from completely molten basalt through the partially molten ambient peridotite, which caused the voluminous eruption of the Ontong Java Plateau basalts. From these interpretations, we conclude that the lithosphere forms a genetically unrelated two-layered structure, comprising shallower oceanic lithosphere and deeper impinged plume material, which involved a recycled basaltic component, now present as a pyroxenitic heterogeneity. This interpretation for the present lithospheric structure may explain the seismically anomalous root beneath the Ontong Java Plateau.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 499-514
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Nédli ◽  
Csaba Szabó ◽  
Júlia Dégi

Abstract In this paper we present the petrography and geochemistry of a recently collected lherzolite-websterite xenolith series and of clinopyroxene xenocrysts, hosted in Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene basanites of Poiana Ruscă (Romania), whose xenoliths show notable orthopyroxene-enrichment. In the series a slightly deformed porphyroclastic-equigranular textured series could represent the early mantle characteristics, and in many cases notable orthopyroxene growth and poikilitic texture formation was observed. The most abundant mantle lithology, Type A xenoliths have high Al and Na-contents but low mg# of the pyroxenes and low cr# of spinel suggesting a low degree (< 10 %) of mafic melt removal. They are also generally poor in overall REE-s (rare earth elements) and have flat REY (rare earth elements+ Y) patterns with slight LREE-depletion. The geochemistry of the Type A xenoliths and calculated melt composition in equilibrium with the xenolith clinopyroxenes suggests that the percolating melt causing the poikilitization can be linked to a mafic, Al-Na-rich, volatile-poor melt and show similarity with the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene (66–72 Ma) subduction-related andesitic magmatism of Poiana Ruscă. Type B xenoliths, with their slightly different chemistry, suggest that, after the ancient depletion, the mantle went through a slight metasomatic event. A subsequent passage of mafic melts in the mantle, with similar compositions to the older andesitic magmatism of Poiana Ruscă, is recorded in the pyroxenites (Fe-rich xenoliths), whereas the megacrysts seem to be cogenetic with the host basanite. The Poiana Ruscă xenoliths differ from the orthopyroxene-enriched mantle xenoliths described previously from the Carpathian-Pannonian Region and from the Dacia block.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 6095-6160 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Meng ◽  
P. G. M. Hess ◽  
N. M. Mahowald ◽  
J. B. Yavitt ◽  
W. J. Riley ◽  
...  

Abstract. Methane emissions from natural wetlands and rice paddies constitute a large proportion of atmospheric methane, but the magnitude and year-to-year variation of these methane sources is still unpredictable. Here we describe and evaluate the integration of a methane biogeochemical model (CLM4Me; Riley et al., 2011) into the Community Land Model 4.0 (CLM4CN) in order to better explain spatial and temporal variations in methane emissions. We test new functions for soil pH and redox potential that impact microbial methane production in soils. We also constrain aerenchyma in plants in always-inundated areas in order to better represent wetland vegetation. Satellite inundated fraction is explicitly prescribed in the model because there are large differences between simulated fractional inundation and satellite observations. A rice paddy module is also incorporated into the model, where the fraction of land used for rice production is explicitly prescribed. The model is evaluated at the site level with vegetation cover and water table prescribed from measurements. Explicit site level evaluations of simulated methane emissions are quite different than evaluating the grid cell averaged emissions against available measurements. Using a baseline set of parameter values, our model-estimated average global wetland emissions for the period 1993–2004 were 256 Tg CH4 yr−1, and rice paddy emissions in the year 2000 were 42 Tg CH4 yr−1. Tropical wetlands contributed 201 Tg CH4 yr−1, or 78 % of the global wetland flux. Northern latitude (>50 N) systems contributed 12 Tg CH4 yr−1. We expect this latter number may be an underestimate due to the low high-latitude inundated area captured by satellites and unrealistically low high-latitude productivity and soil carbon predicted by CLM4. Sensitivity analysis showed a large range (150–346 Tg CH4 yr−1) in predicted global methane emissions. The large range was sensitive to: (1) the amount of methane transported through aerenchyma, (2) soil pH (± 100 Tg CH4 yr−1), and (3) redox inhibition (± 45 Tg CH4 yr−1).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Thomas ◽  
Henryk Dobslaw ◽  
Meike Bagge ◽  
Robert Dill ◽  
Volker Klemann ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Temporal variations in the total ocean mass representing the barystatic part of present-day global-mean sea-level rise can be directly inferred from time-series of global gravity fields as provided by the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions. A spatial integration over all ocean regions, however, largely underestimates present-day rates as long as the effects of spatial leakage along the coasts of in particular Antarctica, Greenland, and the various islands of the Canadian Archipelago are not properly considered.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Based on the latest release 06 of monthly gravity fields processed at GFZ, we quantify (and subsequently correct) the contribution of spatial leakage to the post-processed mass anomalies of continental water storage and ocean bottom pressure. We find that by utilizing the sea level equation to predict spatially variable ocean mass trends out of the (leakage-corrected) terrrestial mass distributions from GRACE and GRACE-FO consistent results are obtained also from spatial integrations over ocean masks with different coastal buffer zones ranging from 400 to 1000 km. However, the results are critically dependent on coefficients of degree 1, 2 and 3, that are not precisely determined from GRACE data alone and need to be augemented by information from satellite laser ranging. We will particularly discuss the impact of those low-degree harmonics on the secular rates in global barystatic sea-level.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Bin Liu ◽  
You-Jun Tang ◽  
Lü-Ya Xing ◽  
Yu Xu ◽  
Shao-Qing Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Primitive lamprophyres in orogenic belts can provide crucial insights into the nature of the subcontinental lithosphere and the relevant deep crust–mantle interactions. This paper reports a suite of relatively primitive lamprophyre dykes from the North Qiangtang, central Tibetan Plateau. Zircon U–Pb ages of the lamprophyre dykes range from 214 Ma to 218 Ma, with a weighted mean age of 216 ± 1 Ma. Most of the lamprophyre samples are similar in geochemical compositions to typical primitive magmas (e.g. high MgO contents, Mg no. values and Cr, with low FeOt/MgO ratios), although they might have experienced a slightly low degree of olivine crystallization, and they show arc-like trace-element patterns and enriched Sr–Nd isotopic composition ((87Sr/86Sr)i = 0.70538–0.70540, ϵNd(t) = −2.96 to −1.65). Those geochemical and isotopic variations indicate that the lamprophyre dykes originated from partial melting of a phlogopite- and spinel-bearing peridotite mantle modified by subduction-related aqueous fluids. Combining with the other regional studies, we propose that slab subduction might have occurred during Late Triassic time, and the rollback of the oceanic lithosphere induced the lamprophyre magmatism in the central Tibetan Plateau.


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