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DEEP EARTH

Hydrogen dances in the deep mantle

Nature Geoscience volume 14, pages 116–117 (2021)Cite this article

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Hydrogen ions move freely within the crystal structure of a hydrous mineral under lower mantle conditions, resulting in high electrical conductivity that may make it possible to map water in the deep mantle.

Earth’s water cycle is not limited to the clouds, rain and rivers we experience at the surface. Water also circulates through the solid Earth and this deep water cycle interacts with the surface via mantle hydration and dehydration during subduction and degassing, respectively. Processes of the deep water cycle have been discussed for relatively shallow depths but it remains unclear how deep into the mantle water persists. As water in the mantle is stored as hydrous minerals, constraining their physical properties is the key to understanding the distribution of Earth’s deep water. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Hou and colleagues1 demonstrate that a hydrous mineral phase, iron oxide-hydroxide, FeOOH, shows very high electrical conductivity under lower mantle conditions due to the free movement of hydrogen within the crystal structure. This high electrical conductivity could make it possible for geophysical observations to detect hydrous minerals and track the water cycle in the deep mantle.

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Fig. 1: Water circulation in the mantle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Tetsuya Komabayashi

  2. Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Tetsuya Komabayashi

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  1. Tetsuya Komabayashi
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Correspondence to Tetsuya Komabayashi.

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Komabayashi, T. Hydrogen dances in the deep mantle. Nat. Geosci. 14, 116–117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00704-5

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