Eclogite

Engine
Don L. Anderson
Caltech
Can we bridge
geophysics,geochemistry &
geodynamics?
Continents; the missing link
The lower crust is transient
It is recycled 6 times faster
than upper crust
Recent arc growth estimates
are 5X previous estimates!
Therefore, a huge previously
unaccounted for flux
THE UPPER MANTLE
ECLOGITE CYCLE
All the components of so-called hotspot
or plume magmas originate in crust,
lithosphere, cumulates or mantle wedge
The Isotope Zoo
EM1, EM2, HIMU, DUPAL, LONU,
High 3He/4He, C-, FOZO, Os
Mantle is a Top-Down System
Quic kTi me and a
TIFF (Uncompress ed) decompress or
are needed to see this pi cture.
Sources of dissipation
The top boundary condition is not simple
delamination
Many ways to get big chunks of
mafic matter into upper mantle
Subduction of seamount chains,
aseismic ridges
Delamination of island arcs
Delamination of compressional
mountain belts
Estimating mantle sources & sinks, continental addition & loss, through time,
depends critically on when deep subduction, got underway
David Scholl
1 Gyr of oceanic crust subduction=70 km of eclogite
But lots of other things get put into the mantle
OIB
~2
Km
3
/yr
20 km
3
/yr
Piles up @ 70
km/Gyr
MASS BALANCE

Recycling rate of oceanic crust (basaltic + gabbroic) ~20 km
3
/yr

Midplate extrusive magmatism 1-2 km
3
/yr
(4 to 8 current Hawaiis; 10x more average Hawaiis)

(Factor of 10 to 20 mismatch for Hofmann & White recycling mechanism)

Underside erosion of continents at marine margins 2.5 km
3
/yr

Erosion plus delamination at continental colli sions 2-3 km
3
/yr

Production rate of magmas in arcs 3-9 km
3
/yr

[Scholl (2006) gives 4-5 km3/yr]

Growth rate of arc garnet pyroxenite cumulates 1.5-6 km
3
/yr

Island arcs and oceanic plateaus (and Hawaiis) can also delaminate
Midplate volcanisms & arcs can be upper mantle
recycling
RIDGE-TRENCH ANNIHILATION
Abandonment of young oceanic crust and
mantle wedge

BAB
Mantle
wedge
Trapped crust
Future
suture
EM1
EM
2
HIM
U
FOZ
O
LOMU
HI
3
HE/U
All of the isotope and trace element signatures of OIB
are manufactured in the subduction factory, wedge &
crust
dense roots
fall off
warm up in
ambient mantle
rise
possible mechanism
for Atlantic & Indian
ocean plateaus &
DUPAL anomaly
ROOT FORMATION
1
DELAMINATION ridge
2
SPREADING
3
heating
UPWELLING
4
SPREADING
5
Delamination
cycle
ERUPTABLE mafic melt (-0.68)
MELTS ultramafic melt (-0.40)
50 km jadeite 3.20 4.82
LMP eclogite 3.24 4.28
ERUPTABLE 100 km mafic melt (-0.40)
MELTS ultramafic melt (-0.15)
UMR AVERAGE 3.29 4.68
dunite 3.30 4.90
sp.perid. 3.35 4.52
200 km Gt.Lhz. 4.83
BUOYANT MELT mafic melt (-0.18)
PONDED MELT ultramafic melt (+0.00)
PYROLITE 3.38
LMP eclogite 3.43 4.58
300 km Hawaii Lherzolite 3.47 4.72
SHEAR
VELOCITY
ECLOGITE AT DEPTH HAS LOW SHEAR VELOCITY
densit
y
Non-uniform heat leakage from the top
& peeling off of crust
The eclogite engine, as in any
engine, involves changes in volume
due to compression, heating and
phase changes.One cannot
consider T but not P.

The cycle is cooling, phase change
(eclogite), compression (sinking),
heating, phase change (melting),
decompression (rising), heat
exchange

[The continent may move, rather than
the blob.]
heating
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to seethis picture.
QuickTimeand a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to seethis picture.
Dual eruptions
unstable
Delaminated roots warm
quickly
will start to melt
before reaching
same T as
surrounding mantle
already in TBL, so
starts off warm
when 30% melt,
garnet mostly gone
& will start to rise


Dry peridotite can only melt in very shallow mantle;
hence adiabatic ascent at ridges
Eclogite can melt much deeper, and much more,
even when colder; hence, midplate magmatism
Peridotite melts
E
c
l
o
g
i
t
e

m
e
l
t
s
Eclogite
melts
Delamination rate of arc cumulates 1.5-6 km
3
/yr is non-negli gible. It is also
likely that larger chunks are inv olved than would be the case with
subduction of normal oceanic crust. They are also hotter. Thus, this material
may be responsible for fertile melting anomalies, in addition to contributin g
trace element and isotopic signatures to their melts. To the arc lower crustal
delamination rates must be added the colli sional mountain belt delamination.
The breakup of Gondwana and the uncovering of the
Indian and Atlantic oceans provides the best opportunity
for seeing the re-emergence of these fertile blobs, after
they have been heated by ambient mantle. It has been
proposed that the Indian ocean and the south Atlantic
plateaus and island chains may be due to these mafic
patches that were injected into the mantle from the base
of the Gondwana crust (Anderson, 2005).


LIPs are associated with
continental breakup
reconstruction at
~ 30 Ma
dual volcanism
on breakup
~ 30 Myr later
oceanic plateaus form
~ 1,000 km offshore
= rising of
delaminated root?


NO PLUME
NECESSARY
COUNTERFLOW
CHANNEL
Slow upwelling
Slow upwelling
DELAMINATION
MANTLE
WEDGE
EROSION
Input into asthenosphere: delamination, seamount chains,
broad upwelling, abandoned mantle wedges
Broad upwellings
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

1
2
3
4
1 delaminated crust, 2 wedge, 3 broad upwelling,
4 young oceanic crust
Fertile blob & asthenospheric counterflow model
LVZ

^
Test of the model; lots of scattering in the upper
mantle
There is no mass balance
or geochemical reason for
anything to come from
below 1000 km

ECLOGITE ENGINE
0 Myr 40-80 Myr

CRUST
^
>>>>>>>>> >>> <<< <<< ^
1 5
COLD MAGMA-RICH
10 Myr DENSE BLOB ZONE

2
(z)
1
RESIDUE
<
1
ASTHENOSPHERE 50 Myr
S
L 4
PARTIALLY
A MOLTEN
BLOB 40 Myr
B
HOT
<
3
^
13 Myr 2
HOT WARM BLOB HOT
PHASE CHANGE COLD
BLOB
low U, Th 3 30 Myr

4
high U, Th
>
3
HOT HOT

4
<<
5
OLD SLABS 100+ Myr
PHASE CHANGE
5
LOWER MANTLE
Blobs gain
heat from
mantle
Blobs deliver
heat & magma
to surface
NOTICE! Oceanic crust not involved
at all !
TRI-CYCLING THROUGH THE EARTH
RIDGE-TRENCH CYCLE (the
escalator)
SUPERCONTINENT CYCLE (the
trolley)
SLAB-PLUME CYCLE (the tube)
SUBTERRANEAN CYCLE
(delamination, orogenic cycle; the
elevator)
Quic kTimeand a
TIFF (Uncompres sed) decompres sor
are needed to see this pi cture.

Elevated water contents in
QuickTimeand a
TIFF (Unc ompressed) dec ompressor
are needed to s ee this picture.
Garnet and clinopyroxene Olivine and opx
I 10 cm or 10 km ? I
Scale matters
>10-km blobs; gravity takes over; heating is slow
piclogite
Eclogite melts in the mantle react
with peridotite to form pyroxenite


The olivine of mantle
peridotite is consumed by
reaction with melts derived
from recycled crust &
cumulates, to form a
secondary pyroxenitic
source

Hotspot basalts such as
Hawaii form from olivine-free
mantle


QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see thi s pi cture.
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Unc ompres sed) decompres sor
are needed to see this picture.
GALILEO THERMOMETER
QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Blobs sink to
level of neutral
buoyancy
But they dont stay
there
In mantle, they heat up & melt
And bring mantle
heat & magma to
base of plate
Not core heat
Rates of generation of the
continental crust
The rates at which basaltic magma is
added to the continental crust have
recently been revised upwards range to
3.7 km
3
yr
-1


The plume affinity of basaltic rocks in
juvenile crust has been used to support
deep-seated disturbances in the Earth, as
opposed to shallow-level processes. But
this evidence could also be used in
support of the delamination model.

The average residence times of the lower
crust may be at least five times less than
the upper crust


THE ECLOGITE CYCLE
Mass balance seems o.k.
Petrology & major elements seem o.k.
Isotopes seem o.k. including stable
isotopes
Dynamics seems o.k.
Thermodynamics seem fine
Energetics seem o.k.
What caused these?

Quic kTi me and a
TIFF (Uncompress ed) decompress or
are needed to see this pi cture.
LIPs CFB SDR NAVP CRB OPB BABB OJP
New parameters
Scale (size)
Homologous temperature
Stress
Buoyancy parameter
Architecture
Fertility
Entrainability
MASS BALANCE

km
3
/yr


TOTAL MIDPLATE MAGMA VOLUMES 3-6
Growth rate of arc garnet pyroxenite cumulates 1.5-6
Underside erosion & delamination of continents 4-6
Production rate of magmas in arcs 4-5


LOWER CRUSTAL LOSS = HOTSPOT MAGMATISM
CYCLE TIME 40-80 MYR
10-30 KM CHUNKS



KEY ELEMENTS
Mantle is source of heat
Thick basalt piles are the source
of material
True Top-Down system
Mantle is heterogeneous
Heterogenity washed out by
Central Limit Theorem (ridges,
tomography), not by mantle
convection
Mantle is gumbo, not fruit cake

Unification of geodynamics &
geochemistry of mantle
Delamination of lower continental crust
& subduction of seamount chains
fertilize the mantle
These become low meltng point blobs
It is these, not plumes, that explain
anomalies such as midplate volcanism,
swells and hotspots