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Dry metastable olivine and slab deformation in a wet subducting slab

Nature Geoscience volume 14, pages 526–530 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

A widely accepted explanation for deep-focus earthquakes is that they are caused by the delayed transformation kinetics of dry olivine, which would seem to require dry subducting slabs. However, many geochemical and geophysical observations and mineral physics data indicate that water is present within both hydrous and nominally anhydrous minerals, implying hydrated subducting slabs. The presence of metastable olivine in wet slabs is therefore paradoxical, and the hydration state of the slabs remains an open question. Here, we report results of water-partitioning experiments between olivine, wadsleyite and a major dense hydrous magnesium silicate in slabs, hydrous phase A, under water-undersaturated conditions. We show that olivine and wadsleyite coexisting with hydrous phase A are kinetically dry and contain less than 1 ppm and approximately 300 ppm water, respectively. Our results suggest that olivine and wadsleyite show dry transformation kinetics even in wet slabs. It is therefore possible that olivine transformation as a cause of deep-focus earthquakes and large slab deformation creating stagnant slabs could occur in the water-undersaturated wet slabs. These processes could be caused jointly by dehydration of hydrous minerals and the subsequent rapid phase transformation when the dehydration starts at lower temperatures than the phase transformation.

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Fig. 1: Representative photographs of cross sections of recovered samples.
Fig. 2: Representative unpolarized FTIR spectra of forsterite and wadsleyite single crystals coexisting with hydrous phase A.
Fig. 3: The water content in forsterite at 8–12 GPa and wadsleyite at 12–20 GPa with increasing temperature.
Fig. 4: Slab deformation and formation of a stagnant slab in a wet descending slab and their possible linkage with dehydration of hydrous phases.

Data availability

All data used in this paper are available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3936232). Any other data can be requested by emailing the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Fischer for preparation of cell assemblies, R. Njul for preparation of thin-section samples, D. Wiesner and F. Ferreira for measurements of EBSD patterns of the samples and H. Keppler for measurements of water in the samples by using FTIR, at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut. We also appreciate D. J. Frost and T. Katsura for valuable discussion on this topic and T. Withers for useful comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by the Grants-in-Aid of the German Research Foundation (no. IS350/1-1) to T.I. and the Kakenhi Grants JP15H05748 and JP20H00187 from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to E.O. E.O. was supported also by the research award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, Beijing, China

    Takayuki Ishii

  2. Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Takayuki Ishii

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai, Japan

    Eiji Ohtani

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  1. Takayuki Ishii
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Both authors identified the research topic, designed the experiments, conducted high-pressure experiments and analysed the run products. Both authors discussed the results and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Takayuki Ishii.

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Additional information

Peer review information Nature Geoscience thanks Jean-Philippe Perrillat and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Rebecca Neely.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Schematic drawings of cell assemblies.

Water-partitioning experiments between a, forsterite and hydrous phase A and b, wadsleyite and hydrous phase A. In the experiments for forsterite, oriented crystals with 200 μm a axis × 400 μm b axis × 400 μm c axis were put in the capsules as shown in the right capsule in Extended Data Fig. 1a.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Representative X-ray diffraction patterns of the recovered samples at the surrounding part of the single crystals.

a, 10 GPa and 800 °C (S7423). b, 12 GPa and 900 °C (H5073). Fo, forsterite; Wd, wadsleyite; Cen, clinoenstatite; PhA, hydrous phase A.

Extended Data Table 1 Experimental summary.

Experimental conditions and results of phase identification and water contents in single crystals.

Extended Data Table 2 Water contents of forsterite and wadsleyite.

Details of FTIR measurements of forsterite and wadsleyite single crystals.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–3.

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Ishii, T., Ohtani, E. Dry metastable olivine and slab deformation in a wet subducting slab. Nat. Geosci. 14, 526–530 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00756-7

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