Zinc isotopic evidence for recycled carbonate in the deep mantle

Xiao-Yu Zhang, Li-Hui Chen (), Xiao-Jun Wang, Takeshi Hanyu, Albrecht W. Hofmann, Tsuyoshi Komiya, Kentaro Nakamura, Yasuhiro Kato, Gang Zeng, Wen-Xian Gou and Wei-Qiang Li
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Xiao-Yu Zhang: Nanjing University
Li-Hui Chen: Nanjing University
Xiao-Jun Wang: Northwest University
Takeshi Hanyu: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Albrecht W. Hofmann: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie
Tsuyoshi Komiya: The University of Tokyo
Kentaro Nakamura: The University of Tokyo
Yasuhiro Kato: The University of Tokyo
Gang Zeng: Nanjing University
Wen-Xian Gou: Nanjing University
Wei-Qiang Li: Nanjing University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Carbonate, the major carbon reservoir on Earth’s surface, can enter into the mantle by subduction. However, evidence for recycled surficial carbonates in the deep mantle is still scarce. Ocean island basalts from Cook-Austral islands and St. Helena Island, widely called HIMU basalts because of their high μ = 238U/204Pb sources, are thought to be fed by mantle plumes originating in the lower mantle. Here we report exceptionally high δ66Zn values (δ66Zn = 0.38 ± 0.03‰) of these HIMU lavas relative to most published data for oceanic basalts (δ66Zn = 0.31 ± 0.10‰), which requires a source contributed by isotopically heavy recycled surficial carbonates. During subduction of the oceanic lithosphere, melting of mixed surficial carbonates and basaltic crust in the deep mantle generates carbonatite melts, which metasomatizes the nearby mantle and the resultant carbonated mantle ultimately evolves into a high-δ66Zn HIMU source. High-δ66Zn signatures of HIMU basalts, therefore, demonstrate that carbonates can be transported into Earth’s deep mantle.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33789-6

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