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Decoupling of inorganic and organic carbon during slab mantle devolatilisation

Bouilhol, P.; Debret, B.; Inglis, E.C.; Warembourg, M.; Grocolas, T.; Rigaudier, T.; Villeneuve, J.; Burton, K.W.

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Authors

P. Bouilhol

B. Debret

E.C. Inglis

M. Warembourg

T. Grocolas

T. Rigaudier

J. Villeneuve



Abstract

Serpentinites are an important sink for both inorganic and organic carbon, and their behavior during subduction is thought to play a fundamental role in the global cycling of carbon. Here we show that fluid-derived veins are preserved within the Zermatt-Saas ultra-high pressure serpentinites providing key evidence for carbonate mobility during serpentinite devolatilisation. We show through the O, C, and Sr isotope analyses of vein minerals and the host serpentinites that about 90% of the meta-serpentinite inorganic carbon is remobilized during slab devolatilisation. In contrast, graphite-like carbonaceous compounds remain trapped within the host rock as inclusions within metamorphic olivine while the bulk elemental and isotope composition of organic carbon remains relatively unchanged during the subduction process. This shows a decoupling behavior of carbon during serpentinite dehydration in subduction zones. This process will therefore facilitate the transfer of inorganic carbon to the mantle wedge and the preferential slab sequestration of organic carbon en route to the deep mantle.

Citation

Bouilhol, P., Debret, B., Inglis, E., Warembourg, M., Grocolas, T., Rigaudier, T., Villeneuve, J., & Burton, K. (2022). Decoupling of inorganic and organic carbon during slab mantle devolatilisation. Nature Communications, 13(1), Article 308. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27970-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 10, 2021
Online Publication Date Jan 14, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Feb 18, 2022
Publicly Available Date Feb 18, 2022
Journal Nature Communications
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 13
Issue 1
Article Number 308
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27970-0
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1216715

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.






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