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Control of the location of the volcanic front in island arcs by aqueous fluid connectivity in the mantle wedge

Nature volume 401, pages 259–262 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The water released from descending oceanic lithosphere is thought to have an important role in subduction-zone magmatism, as this water might trigger partial melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting plate1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. If, however, there is incomplete wetting of mineral grain boundaries in the mantle (that is, the dihedral angle9 at the triple junctions between grains is more than 60°), then the water would not form an interconnected network and might instead be trapped as interstitial fluid in the mantle peridotite. The water would then be transported to deeper parts of the mantle rather than triggering partial melting. Here we use dihedral-angle data to estimate the connectivity of an aqueous fluid phase in a model upper-mantle mineral assemblage (forsterite) at pressures from 3 to 5 GPa (corresponding to depths of ∼80–150 km). By combining these data with previous results10,11, we find that the dihedral angle is greater than 60° at low pressure and temperature (<1,000 °C at 2 GPa and <800 °C at 4 GPa) and lower than 60° at higher pressures and temperatures, suggesting that wetting is incomplete below these conditions. This indicates that the connectivity of water in hydrous upper-mantle peridotite at convergent plate boundaries might control the position of the volcanic front in island arcs.

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Figure 1: Secondary electron photomicrograph of the polished sample at 3 GPa and 800 °C.
Figure 2: Apparent distribution of dihedral angles at aqueous fluid–forsterite–forsterite triple junctions at 800 °C.
Figure 3: The aqueous fluid–forsterite–forsterite dihedral angle as a function of temperature and pressure.
Figure 4: The 60° isopleth of the dihedral angle in aqueous fluid–forsterite–forsterite in P–T space.
Figure 5: Model distributions of temperature and dihedral angles at a convergent margin.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Toriumi, S.-I. Karato, S. Ono, T. Hanyu, K. Kaneko, Y. Takei, D. Yamazaki and T. Yoshino for discussions. We also thank B. O. Mysen, C. R. Bina and J. M. Brenan for his helpful reviews. This manuscript was prepared with support from the Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists.

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  1. Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan

    Kenji Mibe, Toshitsugu Fujii & Atsushi Yasuda

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  1. Kenji Mibe
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  2. Toshitsugu Fujii
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  3. Atsushi Yasuda
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Correspondence to Kenji Mibe.

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Mibe, K., Fujii, T. & Yasuda, A. Control of the location of the volcanic front in island arcs by aqueous fluid connectivity in the mantle wedge. Nature 401, 259–262 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/45762

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