Dihedral angle of carbonatite melts in mantle residue near the upper mantle and transition zone

Abstract:

Carbonate melts are thought to be ideal metasomatic agents in the deep upper mantle (Green & Wallace, 1988) and these melts are low in viscosities (10^-1-10^-3 Pa·s) compared to primitive basalt (10¹-10² Pa·s), furthermore the ability to form an interconnected grain-edge melt network at low melt fractions (< 1%) make carbonate melts extremely mobile. They are molten at relatively low temperatures and have solidus temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than silicate melts at >3 GPa (Dasgupta et al. 2006, Ghosh et al., 2009), dissolve a number of geochemically incompatible elements much better than silicate melts (Blundy and Dalton, 2000). Previous studies of carbonate melt dihedral angles in olivine-dominated matrices yielded 25-30^oat 1-3 GPa, relatively independent of melt composition (Watson et al., 1990) and temperature (Hunter and McKenzie, 1989). Dihedral angles of carbonate melts in contact with deep mantle silicate phases (e.g. garnet, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite) which constitute more than 70 % of the deep upper mantle and transition zone have not been studied yet.

We have performed multi-anvil experiments on carbonate-bearing peridotites with 5.0 wt% CO₂ from 13.5 to 20 GPa 1550 ^oC to investigate the dihedral angle of magnesio-carbonatite melts in equilibrium with garnet, olivine (and its high-pressure polymorphs), and clinoenstatite. The dihedral angle of carbonate melts in the deep upper mantle and transition zone is ~30° for majorite garnet and olivine (and its polymorphs) dominated matrices. It does not change with increasing pressure in the range 13.5-20 GPa. Our results suggest that very low melt fractions of carbonatite melt forming in the deep upper mantle and transition zone are interconnected at melt fractions less than 0.01. Consistent with geophysical observations, this could possibly explain low velocity regions in the deep mantle and transition zone.