Collaborative Research: Integrated He-CO2-N2 Isotope and Petrologic Study of Volatiles Cycling via the New Zealand Subduction System

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Knowledge of the cycling of volatiles such as water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and molecular N (N2) at Earth's convergent margins is fundamental to understanding the role of fluids in a variety of processes related to plate tectonics on Earth. In order to fully assess the impacts of human-related ("anthropogenic") processes on our surface environment (atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere), we must understand the natural (non-anthropogenic) processes contributing to environmental change, at all time scales. There is no better example of this need than that relating to the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere and its likely effect on global mean surface temperature and the myriad other related processes (change in ocean surface water temperature, ocean circulation, polar ice melting, etc.). Understanding these processes is predicated on a quantitative assessment of the mass balance of volatiles entering subduction zones versus the fraction returned to the surface in fore-arc, volcanic front, or back-arc localities, versus the proportion transported into the deeper Earth (to depths greater than 150 km, in the mantle). Huge uncertainties on flux estimates of volatiles returned directly to the surface versus those subducted to the deeper mantle remain, and prevent assessments of both long- and short-term cycling histories of key volatiles between Earth's interior and external reservoirs.In this study, the research team will investigate the cycling of volatiles in the well-characterized New Zealand North Island subduction system where input and output fluxes of specific volatiles (CO2, N2, and noble gases such as He and Ar) can be well constrained. The proposed study area, a combination of the Hikurangi Margin, Axial Ranges, Taupo Volcanic Zone and Hauraki Rift Zone, comprises a forearc-volcanic front-backarc profile providing a crucial test of the mass balance of these key volatiles between sedimentary and oceanic lithosphere inputs at the Hikurangi Trench to output via magmatic, geothermal and groundwater activity in various tectonic regimes of the North Island. The volatile input characteristics will be constrained using sediment cores from ODP Site 1124, DSDP Site 317, and an upcoming IODP leg, whereas output volatile characteristics and fluxes will be provided by extensive on-shore sampling of ~100 sites at strategically-placed localities throughout the North Island. The approach will be underpinned by thermodynamic modeling of slab volatile release utilizing Perple_X and other software and composite profiles of incoming sediment/basement. Taken together, the combination of combined petrologic-geochemical-geothermal approaches at the NZ subduction zone offers the tantalizing prospect of providing well-constrained solutions to the question of recycling efficiencies for key volatiles through subduction systems, and a clearer understanding of fundamental processes (e.g., slab composition, P-T regime, plate-coupling and upper plate structure) involved in controlling subducted volatile release/retention properties.