Estimating the carbon content of the deep mantle with Icelandic melt inclusions ...
Earth’s carbon budget is central to our understanding of the long-term co-evolution of life and the planet. Direct observations of surface reservoirs allow for the detailed quantification of their carbon content. However, the carbon content of Earth’s deep interior remains poorly constrained. Here w...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier BV
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.41605 https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/294499 |
| Summary: | Earth’s carbon budget is central to our understanding of the long-term co-evolution of life and the planet. Direct observations of surface reservoirs allow for the detailed quantification of their carbon content. However, the carbon content of Earth’s deep interior remains poorly constrained. Here we study olivine-hosted melt inclusions from two Icelandic eruptions, with those from the Miðfell eruption allowing us to investigate the carbon content of the deep mantle. Comparison with the previously studied Borgarhraun eruption highlights the presence of deep, plume-sourced mantle material within the Miðfell source region. Miðfell contains trace element-depleted melt inclusions undersaturated in CO2, which have high CO2/Ba (= 396 ± 48) and CO2/Nb (= 1832 ± 316), though some inclusions preserve even greater relative carbon enrichment. These observations allow us to reconstruct the CO2 content of the bulk Miðfell source as being > 690 ppm. By identifying that Miðfell is a mixture of depleted and deep mantle ... |
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