Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Intensive hydration of the mantle transition zone beneath China caused by ancient slab stagnation

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 713–716 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The mantle transition zone, located at depths of 410–660 km between the lower and upper mantle, is an important water reservoir in the Earth’s interior1,2,3,4. However, there are regional-scale heterogeneities in the distribution of water4,5. The zone beneath northeast China, in particular, is remarkably hydrous4, but when and how it became hydrous remains uncertain. Here we combine analyses of the geochemistry of late Cenozoic basalts in northeast China with published geochemical analyses. We find a spatial correlation between basalt geochemistry and the distribution of a low-velocity zone in the underlying mantle that is interpreted as a plume upwelling from the mantle transition zone6. We therefore use the basalt geochemistry to infer the composition of the mantle transition zone. The basalts have high Ba/Th and 207Pb/206Pb ratios, which we suggest record an ancient hydration event in the transition zone that occurred more than one billion years ago, probably as a result of dehydration of a subducted slab. We suggest that this ancient hydration event, combined with a more recent hydration event linked to dehydration of the subducted Pacific slab7, can account for the hydrous nature of the mantle transition zone beneath China. Our results demonstrate that the mantle transition zone can remain as a stable water reservoir in Earth’s interior for timescales of more than a billion years.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Map showing distributions of Cenozoic volcanic fields and deep faults in northeast China.
Figure 2: Vertical cross-sections of P-wave velocity tomography under northeast Asia.

© 2009 Elsevier

Figure 3: Spatial variations in Ba/Th and Pb/U ratios of late Cenozoic basaltic lavas from northeast China.
Figure 4: Lead isotopic compositions of late Cenozoic basalts from northeast China.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Smyth, J. R. β-Mg2SiO4: A potential host for water in the mantle? Am. Mineral. 72, 1051–1055 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Inoue, T., Yurimoto, H. & Kudoh, Y. Hydrous modified spinel, Mg1.75SiH0.5O4: A new water reservoir in the mantle transition region. Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 117–120 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ohtani, E., Litasov, K., Hosoya, T., Kubo, T. & Kondo, T. Water transport into the deep mantle and formation of a hydrous transition zone. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 143–144, 255–269 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Karato, S. Water distribution across the mantle transition zone and its implications for global material circulation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 301, 413–423 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Utada, H., Koyama, T., Obayashi, M. & Fukao, Y. A joint interpretation of electromagnetic and seismic tomography models suggests the mantle transition zone below Europe is dry. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 281, 249–257 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhao, D., Tian, Y., Lei, J., Liu, L. & Zheng, S. Seismic image and origin of the Changbai intraplate volcano in East Asia: Role of big mantle wedge above the stagnant Pacific slab. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 173, 197–206 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ohtani, E. & Zhao, D. The role of water in the deep upper mantle and transition zone: Dehydration of stagnant slabs and its effects on the big mantle wedge. Russ. Geol. Geophys. 50, 1073–1078 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fukao, Y., Obayashi, M., Inoue, H. & Nenbai, M. Subducting slabs stagnant in the mantle transition zone. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 4809–4822 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Richard, G. C. & Iwamori, H. Stagnant slab, wet plumes and Cenozoic volcanism in East Asia. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 183, 280–287 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chen, Y., Zhang, Y., Graham, D., Su, S. & Deng, J. Geochemistry of Cenozoic basalts and mantle xenoliths in northeast China. Lithos 96, 108–126 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kuritani, T. et al. Intraplate magmatism related to deceleration of upwelling asthenospheric mantle: Implications from the Changbaishan shield basalts, northeast China. Lithos 112, 247–258 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zindler, A. & Hart, S. Chemical geodynamics. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 14, 493–571 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Basu, A. R., Junwen, W., Wankang, H., Guanghong, X. & Tatsumoto, M. Major element, REE, and Pb, Nd and Sr isotopic geochemistry of Cenozoic volcanic rocks of eastern China: Implications for their origin from suboceanic-type mantle reservoirs. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 105, 149–169 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gao, S. et al. Recycling lower continental crust in the North China craton. Nature 432, 892–897 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Murphy, D. T., Collerson, K. D. & Kamber, B. S. Lamproites from Gaussberg, Antarctica: Possible transition zone melts of Archaean subducted sediments. J. Petrol. 43, 981–1001 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Griffin, W. L., Andi, Z., O’Reilly, S. Y. & Ryan, C. G. in Mantle Dynamics and Plate Interactions in East Asia (eds Flower, M. F. G., Chung, S-L., Lo, C-H. & Lee, T-Y.) 107–126 (Geodynam. Ser. Vol. 27, American Geophysical Union, 1998).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Rehkämper, M. & Hofmann, A. W. Recycled ocean crust and sediment in Indian Ocean MORB. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 147, 93–106 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hauff, F., Hoernle, K. & Schmidt, A. Sr–Nd–Pb composition of Mesozoic Pacific oceanic crust (Site 1149 and 801, ODP Leg 185): Implications for alteration of ocean crust and the input into the Izu–Bonin–Mariana subduction system. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 4, 8913 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Fukao, Y., Widiyantoro, S. & Obayashi, M. Stagnant slabs in the upper and lower mantle transition region. Rev. Geophys. 39, 291–323 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Murphy, D. T., Kamber, B. S. & Collerson, K. D. A refined solution to the first terrestrial Pb-isotope paradox. J. Petrol. 44, 39–53 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Choi, S. H., Mukasa, S. B., Zhou, X-H., Xian, X. H. & Andronikov, A. V. Mantle dynamics beneath East Asia constrained by Sr, Nd, Pb and Hf isotopic systematics of ultramafic xenoliths and their host basalts from Hannuoba, North China. Chem. Geol. 248, 40–61 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bercovici, D. & Karato, S. Whole-mantle convection and the transition-zone water filter. Nature 425, 39–44 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Rapp, R. P. et al. Subduction recycling of continental sediments and the origin of geochemically enriched reservoirs in the deep mantle. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 271, 14–23 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ben Othmann, D., White, W. M. & Patchett, J. The geochemistry of marine sediments, island arc magma genesis, and crust–mantle recycling. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 94, 1–21 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Grove, T. L. & Parman, S. W. Thermal evolution of the Earth as recorded by komatiites. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 219, 173–187 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Withers, A. C. & Hirschmann, M. M. Influence of temperature, composition, silica activity and oxygen fugacity on the H2O storage capacity of olivine at 8 GPa. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 156, 595–605 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Le Pichon, X. Sea-floor spreading and continental drift. J. Geophys. Res. 73, 3661–3697 (1968).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Liu, J., Han, J. & Fyfe, W. S. Cenozoic episodic volcanism and continental rifting in northeast China and possible link to Japan Sea development as revealed from K–Ar geochronology. Tectonophysics 339, 385–401 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Stacey, J. S. & Kramers, J. D. Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 26, 207–221 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Cousens, B. L. & Allan, J. F. A Pb, Sr, and Nd isotopic study of basaltic rocks from the Sea of Japan, LEGS 127/128. Proc. Ocean Drill. Program Sci. Results 127–128, 805–817 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. Zhao, S. Karato, and T. Yoshida for useful discussion, and K. Putirka for constructive comments. This work was supported by the program ‘Global Center of Excellence’ of Tohoku University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan

    Takeshi Kuritani & Eiji Ohtani

  2. Division of Biology and Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558-8585, Japan

    Takeshi Kuritani

  3. Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan

    Jun-Ichi Kimura

Authors
  1. Takeshi Kuritani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eiji Ohtani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jun-Ichi Kimura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

This paper is the product of research conducted by T.K. under the support of the program ‘Global Center of Excellence’ of Tohoku University. All three authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and to the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takeshi Kuritani.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 1393 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kuritani, T., Ohtani, E. & Kimura, JI. Intensive hydration of the mantle transition zone beneath China caused by ancient slab stagnation. Nature Geosci 4, 713–716 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1250

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1250

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing