Pervasive subduction zone devolatilization recycles CO2 into the forearc

E. M. Stewart () and Jay J. Ague
Additional contact information
E. M. Stewart: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University
Jay J. Ague: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The fate of subducted CO2 remains the subject of widespread disagreement, with different models predicting either wholesale (up to 99%) decarbonation of the subducting slab or extremely limited carbon loss and, consequently, massive deep subduction of CO2. The fluid history of subducted rocks lies at the heart of this debate: rocks that experience significant infiltration by a water-bearing fluid may release orders of magnitude more CO2 than rocks that are metamorphosed in a closed chemical system. Numerical models make a wide range of predictions regarding water mobility, and further progress has been limited by a lack of direct observations. Here we present a comprehensive field-based study of decarbonation efficiency in a subducting slab (Cyclades, Greece), and show that ~40% to ~65% of the CO2 in subducting crust is released via metamorphic decarbonation reactions at forearc depths. This result precludes extensive deep subduction of most CO2 and suggests that the mantle has become more depleted in carbon over geologic time.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19993-2 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19993-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19993-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().