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Abundant carbon in the mantle beneath Hawai‘i

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 704–708 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Estimates of carbon concentrations in Earth’s mantle vary over more than an order of magnitude, hindering our ability to understand mantle structure and mineralogy, partial melting, and the carbon cycle. CO2 concentrations in mantle-derived magmas supplying hotspot ocean island volcanoes yield our most direct constraints on mantle carbon, but are extensively modified by degassing during ascent. Here we show that undegassed magmatic and mantle carbon concentrations may be estimated in a Bayesian framework using diverse geologic information at an ocean island volcano. Our CO2 concentration estimates do not rely upon complex degassing models, geochemical tracer elements, assumed magma supply rates, or rare undegassed rock samples. Rather, we couple volcanic CO2 emission rates with probabilistic magma supply rates, which are obtained indirectly from magma storage and eruption rates. We estimate that the CO2 content of mantle-derived magma supplying Hawai‘i’s active volcanoes is 0.97−0.19+0.25 wt%—roughly 40% higher than previously believed—and is supplied from a mantle source region with a carbon concentration of 263−62+81 ppm. Our results suggest that mantle plumes and ocean island basalts are carbon-rich. Our data also shed light on helium isotope abundances, CO2/Nb ratios, and may imply higher CO2 emission rates from ocean island volcanoes.

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Figure 1: Previous estimates of CO2/Nb and mantle carbon at ocean volcanoes.
Figure 2: Map of Kı̄lauea Volcano with schematic magma plumbing system.
Figure 3: Marginal PDFs for selected parameters and derived quantities.

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Acknowledgements

Work was supported in part by the USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program. Many of the data utilized in this study were gathered by the scientists and staff of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. We thank J. Lowenstern, P. Barry and H. Gonnermann for reviews. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, California, 94025, USA

    Kyle R. Anderson

  2. US Geological Survey, 1300 SE Cardinal Ct, Vancouver, Washington, 98683, USA

    Michael P. Poland

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K.R.A. and M.P.P. conceptualized the project. K.R.A. developed the model and performed inversions. K.R.A. wrote the paper with assistance from M.P.P.

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Correspondence to Kyle R. Anderson.

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Anderson, K., Poland, M. Abundant carbon in the mantle beneath Hawai‘i. Nature Geosci 10, 704–708 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo3007

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