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Subducted carbonates, metasomatism of mantle wedges, and possible connections to diamond formation: An example from California

  • Mihai N. Ducea EMAIL logo , Jason Saleeby , Jean Morrison and Victor A. Valencia
Published/Copyright: March 28, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 90 Issue 5-6

Abstract

We investigated calcite globules and veins in two spinel-garnet peridotite xenoliths from the sub- Sierra Nevada mantle. The studied xenoliths were entrained in a Miocene (11 Ma) volcanic plug. These carbonates are associated spatially with silicate glass inclusions, suggesting that they are primary inclusions-inclusions that formed at high temperature in the mantle and not at or close to the Earth's surface. The host peridotites represent samples of the lithospheric mantle wedge beneath the Mesozoic California magmatic arc, as indicated by radiogenic isotopic ratios measured on clinopyroxene separates [87Sr/86Sr(11 Ma) = 0.7058-0.7061, εNd (11 Ma) = -1.9 to -0.7]. Mineral chemistry of the peridotite major phases is typical of a mantle section that was depleted of melt. The δ18O values of olivine and orthopyroxene from the two samples are also typical of mantle rocks (δ18O = 6-6.5‰). In contrast, calcite veins have δ18O of 18-20‰ and δ13C of -14‰, arguing for a subducted sedimentary origin for these carbonates. Presumably, the carbonates were expelled from the downgoing slab and fluxed into the overlying mantle wedge as CO2- or CO2-H2O-rich fluids or melts. The trace-element patterns of two analyzed calcite veins are typical of the arc signatures (e.g., depletions in high-fieldstrength elements) seen in calc-alkaline magmatic rocks worldwide. However, the cores of peridotite clinopyroxenes do not show that pattern, suggesting that the arc-like trace element signature was introduced via the recycled carbonate agent. A connection between mantle wedge carbonation and diamond formation in a subduction environment is proposed based on these observations.

Received: 2004-4-11
Accepted: 2005-2-5
Published Online: 2015-3-28
Published in Print: 2005-5-1

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Factors in the preservation of coesite: The importance of fluid inflitration
  2. U-Pb SHRIMP ages recorded in the coesite-bearing zircon domains of paragneisses in the southwestern Sulu terrane, eastern China: New interpretation
  3. Petrogenesis of the Yangkou layered garnet-peridotite complex, Sulu UHP terrane, China
  4. Sodic amphibole exsolutions in garnet from garnet-peridotite, North Qaidam UHPM belt, NW China: Implications for ultradeep-origin and hydroxyl defects in mantle garnets
  5. Blueschists, eclogites, and decompression assemblages of the Zermatt-Saas ophiolite: High-pressure metamorphism of subducted Tethys lithosphere
  6. Coexisting retrograde jadeite and omphacite in a jadeite-bearing lawsonite eclogite from the Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala
  7. Calibrations of modal space for metamorphism of mafic schist
  8. Oxygen isotope geochemistry of rocks from the Pre-Pilot Hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project (CCSD-PPH1)
  9. Subducted carbonates, metasomatism of mantle wedges, and possible connections to diamond formation: An example from California
  10. Hawaiian mantle xenoliths and magmas: Composition and thermal character of the lithosphere
  11. Trace-element distribution coefficients for pyroxenes, plagioclase, and olivine in evolved tholeiites from the 1955 eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʼi, and petrogenesis of differentiated rift-zone lavas
  12. Cation ordering in synthetic low-calcium actinolite
  13. Acquisition and evaluation of thermodynamic data for bieberite-moorhouseite equilibria at 0.1 MPa
  14. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA SEATTLE, NOVEMBER 4, 2003: A mineralogical and geochemical record of atmospheric photochemistry
  15. Synthesis and characterization of saponite clays
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  17. Estimates of Ar diffusion and solubility in leucite and nepheline: Electron microprobe imaging of Ar distribution in a mineral
  18. Growth and dissolution kinetics at the dolomite-water interface: An in-situ scanning probe microscopy study
  19. Crystal chemistry of Zn-rich rhodonite (“fowlerite”)
  20. The origin of the green color of variscite
  21. HRTEM evidence for 8-reversals in the m = 17 antigorite polysome
  22. Origin of high-Ag fahlores from the Galena Mine, Wallace, Idaho, U.S.A.
  23. Stability of the MgCO3 structures under lower mantle conditions
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https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2005.1670

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Factors in the preservation of coesite: The importance of fluid inflitration
  2. U-Pb SHRIMP ages recorded in the coesite-bearing zircon domains of paragneisses in the southwestern Sulu terrane, eastern China: New interpretation
  3. Petrogenesis of the Yangkou layered garnet-peridotite complex, Sulu UHP terrane, China
  4. Sodic amphibole exsolutions in garnet from garnet-peridotite, North Qaidam UHPM belt, NW China: Implications for ultradeep-origin and hydroxyl defects in mantle garnets
  5. Blueschists, eclogites, and decompression assemblages of the Zermatt-Saas ophiolite: High-pressure metamorphism of subducted Tethys lithosphere
  6. Coexisting retrograde jadeite and omphacite in a jadeite-bearing lawsonite eclogite from the Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala
  7. Calibrations of modal space for metamorphism of mafic schist
  8. Oxygen isotope geochemistry of rocks from the Pre-Pilot Hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project (CCSD-PPH1)
  9. Subducted carbonates, metasomatism of mantle wedges, and possible connections to diamond formation: An example from California
  10. Hawaiian mantle xenoliths and magmas: Composition and thermal character of the lithosphere
  11. Trace-element distribution coefficients for pyroxenes, plagioclase, and olivine in evolved tholeiites from the 1955 eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʼi, and petrogenesis of differentiated rift-zone lavas
  12. Cation ordering in synthetic low-calcium actinolite
  13. Acquisition and evaluation of thermodynamic data for bieberite-moorhouseite equilibria at 0.1 MPa
  14. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA SEATTLE, NOVEMBER 4, 2003: A mineralogical and geochemical record of atmospheric photochemistry
  15. Synthesis and characterization of saponite clays
  16. Synthesis and characterization of saponite clays: Part 2. Thermal stability
  17. Estimates of Ar diffusion and solubility in leucite and nepheline: Electron microprobe imaging of Ar distribution in a mineral
  18. Growth and dissolution kinetics at the dolomite-water interface: An in-situ scanning probe microscopy study
  19. Crystal chemistry of Zn-rich rhodonite (“fowlerite”)
  20. The origin of the green color of variscite
  21. HRTEM evidence for 8-reversals in the m = 17 antigorite polysome
  22. Origin of high-Ag fahlores from the Galena Mine, Wallace, Idaho, U.S.A.
  23. Stability of the MgCO3 structures under lower mantle conditions
  24. The 10 Å phase: Crystal structure from single-crystal X-ray data
  25. Letter: Unquenchable hexagonal perovskite in high-pressure polymorphs of strontium silicates
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