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:

Stagnation of subducting slabs in the transition zone due to slow diffusion in majoritic garnet

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 400–403 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Oceanic lithosphere sinks into Earth’s mantle at subduction zones. However, seismic tomography shows that the sinking slabs of lithosphere often stagnate in the lower part of the mantle transition zone1, at depths less than 660 km, where rocks undergo pressure-induced phase transitions and become denser. Greater pressures are required to induce phase transitions in cold slabs compared with the hotter ambient mantle at the 660 km discontinuity, and so, at the boundary between the transition zone and the lower mantle, the slabs are buoyant2. The slabs may also contain low-density minerals that could contribute to their buoyancy3. Here we use laboratory experiments to analyse the rate of dissolution of the common slab mineral pyroxene into garnet, at pressures and temperatures representative of the lower part of the mantle transition zone. We find that the majorite component in garnet—a product of the transition from pyroxene into garnet—is one of the slowest-diffusing components in Earth’s mantle. At the relatively low temperatures of the slab, this slow diffusion inhibits the dissolution of pyroxene into garnet, so that the slab remains buoyant relative to the ambient mantle and stagnates. However, at the base of the mantle transition zone, pyroxene undergoes another phase transformation to the mineral akimotoite, which causes a sudden increase in slab density. We conclude that the slab is likely to penetrate into the lower mantle eventually.

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: Diffusion profiles obtained from a pyrope–majorite diffusion couple H3050.
Figure 2: Diffusion coefficients for majorite diffusion in garnet as a function of temperature and pressure.
Figure 3: Diffusion distance for the majorite component in garnet at 18 GPa.
Figure 4: Timescales for the dissolution of pyroxene into garnet during subduction.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kárason, H. & Van der Hilst, R. D. in The History and Dynamics of Global Plate Motion Vol. 121 (eds Richards, M. R., Gordon, R. & Van der Hilst, R. D.) 277–288 (American Geophysical Union, 2000).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Fukao, Y., Obayashi, M. & Nakakuki, T. Stagnant slab: A review. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 37, 19–46 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tetzlaff, M. & Schmeling, H. The influence of olivine metastability on deep subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 120, 29–38 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bass, J. D. & Parise, J. B. Deep earth and recent developments in mineral physics. Elements 4, 157–165 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Frost, D. J. The upper mantle and transition zone. Elements 4, 171–176 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Irifune, T., Sekine, T., Ringwood, A. E. & Hibberson, W. O. The eclogite–garnetite transformation at high pressure and some geophysical implications. Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett. 77, 245–256 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ganguly, J., Freed, A. M. & Saxena, S. K. Density profiles of oceanic slabs and surrounding mantle: Integrated thermodynamic and thermal modelling, and implications for the fate of slabs at the 660 km discontinuity. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 172, 257–267 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Nishi, M., Kato, T., Kubo, T. & Kikegawa, T. Survival of pyropic garnet in subducting plates. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 170, 274–280 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nishi, M., Kubo, T. & Kato, T. Metastable transformations of eclogite to garnetite in subducting oceanic crust. J. Mineral. Petrol. Sci. 104, 192–198 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chakraborty, S. & Ganguly, J. Cation diffusion in aluminosilicate garnets: Experimental determination in spessartine-almandine diffusion couples, evaluation of effective binary diffusion coefficients, and applications. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 111, 74–86 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Holzapfel, C., Chakraborty, S., Rubie, D. C. & Frost, D. J. Fe–Mg interdiffusion in wadsleyite: The role of pressure, temperature and composition and the magnitude of jump in diffusion rates at the 410 km discontinuity. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 172, 28–33 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chakraborty, S. Diffusion coefficients in olivine, wadsleyite and ringwoodite. Rev. Mineral. Geoch. 72, 603–639 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Shimojuku, A. et al. Si and O diffusion in (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 wadsleyite and ringwoodite and its implications for the rheology of the mantle transition zone. Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett. 284, 103–112 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Holzapfel, C., Rubie, D. C., Frost, D. J. & Langenhorst, F. Fe-Mg interdiffusion in (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite and lower mantle reequilibration. Science 309, 1707–1710 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Crank, J. The Mathematics of Diffusion (Oxford Univ. Press, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  16. McKenzie, D. & Bickle, M. J. The volume and composition of melt generated by extension of the lithosphere. J. Petrol. 29, 625–679 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Anderson, D. L. The thermal state of the upper mantle; No role for mantle plumes. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 3623–3626 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Katsura, T., Yoneda, A., Yamazaki, D., Yoshino, T. & Ito, E. Adiabatic temperature profile in the mantle. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 183, 212–218 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Akaogi, M. & Akimoto, S. High-pressure phase equilibria in a garnet lherzolite, with special reference to Mg2+–Fe2+ partitioning among constituent minerals. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 19, 31–51 (1979).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rubie, D. C. & Thompson, A. B. in Metamorphic Reactions: Kinetics, Textures and Deformation Vol. 4 (eds Thompson, A. B. & Rubie, D. C.) 27–79 (Springer, 1985).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Robinson, P. et al. Tectono-stratigraphic Setting, Structure and Petrology of HP and UHP Metamorphic Rocks and Garnet Peridotites in the Western Gneiss Region, More and Romsdal, Norway 142 (NGU, 2003).

  22. Emmerson, B. & McKenzie, D. Thermal structure and seismicity of subducting lithosphere. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 163, 191–208 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Akaogi, M. & Akimoto, S. Pyroxene-garnet solid–solution equilibria in the systems Mg4Si4O12–Mg3Al2Si3O12 and Fe4Si4O12–Fe3Al2Si3O12 at high pressures and temperatures. Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 15, 90–106 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Turcotte, D. L. & Schubert, G. Geodynamics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. Song, S., Zhang, L. & Niu, Y. Ultra-deep origin of garnet peridotite from the North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure belt, Northern Tibetan Plateau, NW China. Am. Mineral. 89, 1330–1336 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Hogrefe, A., Rubie, D. C., Sharp, T. G. & Seifert, F. Metastability of enstatite in deep subducting lithosphere. Nature 372, 351–353 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Shiraishi, R., Ohtani, E., Kanagawa, K., Shimojuku, A. & Zhao, D. Crystallographic preferred orientation of akimotoite and seismic anisotropy of Tonga slab. Nature 455, 657–660 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ganguly, J., Cheng, W. & Chakraborty, S. Cation diffusion in aluminosilicate garnets: Experimental determination in pyrope-almandine diffusion couples. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 131, 171–180 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Gasparik, T. Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists: An Atlas of the Earth’s Interior (Springer, 2003).

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding of this project is provided by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Research Training Network ‘c2c’ (Contract No. MRTN-CT-2,006-035957) and the Leibniz programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (LA 830/14-1).

Author information

Author notes

  1. W. L. van Mierlo

    Present address: Present address: Materialwissenschaftliche Elektronenmikroskopie, Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89081 Ulm, Germany,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany

    W. L. van Mierlo, F. Langenhorst, D. J. Frost & D. C. Rubie

  2. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany

    F. Langenhorst

Authors
  1. W. L. van Mierlo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. Langenhorst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. J. Frost
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. C. Rubie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed in writing the paper. F.L. and W.L.v.M. conceived the idea for the experiments. F.L. supervised the project. D.J.F. and D.C.R. provided further advice for developing the experimental strategy. W.L.v.M. performed the experiments, conducted the TEM measurements and carried out the data reduction. Numerical modelling was performed by W.L.v.M.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. L. van Mierlo.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 650 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Mierlo, W., Langenhorst, F., Frost, D. et al. Stagnation of subducting slabs in the transition zone due to slow diffusion in majoritic garnet. Nature Geosci 6, 400–403 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1772

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1772

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