Constraining the release of oxidizing fluids from the mafic slab during subduction

俯冲带是地质活动的关键区域，在这里两个板块碰撞，一个板块被迫在另一个板块之下，并俯冲到地幔深处。俯冲带导致了一些最重要的全球地质事件，并通过引发地震和形成大型火山弧（如太平洋“火环”）对人类和人口稠密地区产生了重大影响。俯冲带火山活动受俯冲板块与上覆地幔岩石之间物质和流体交换控制的程度存在不确定性。研究这一过程的一种方法是分析以前被俯冲到很深的地方，但后来被挖掘出来并回到地球表面的岩石。该项目的目的是研究从西阿尔卑斯山（意大利/瑞士）发掘出的俯冲带岩石中单个石榴石晶体中所含的俯冲期间产生的流体的释放和特征记录。该研究将进一步认识俯冲衍生流体在控制俯冲板块和上覆地幔内岩石是否发生化学氧化或还原的重要性，从而为其在控制火山弧岩浆活动中的作用提供新的思路。该项目将资助波士顿学院的一名博士后研究员，他将与本科生一起工作，为他们提供分析技术和研究经验方面的培训。来自波士顿学院的研究团队将与来自欧洲和美国的大型合作伙伴网络合作。该项目的一个重要组成部分将包括本科生前往欧洲，在欧洲合作者的帮助下进行自己的研究。关于俯冲板块脱水过程中释放的变质流体在控制上覆次弧地幔氧化还原条件和解释火山弧岩浆氧化和富含挥发物的地球化学特征方面的作用，存在许多争论。俯冲板块中多价氧化还原敏感元素（如S、C和Fe）的转移代表了弧下地幔氧化的潜在机制。拟议的研究将检验一个假设，即在俯冲过程中，在板块基性成分脱水的过程中，氧化物质在流体中释放出来。这项研究包括建立基性地壳俯冲过程中流体释放的现场记录，检查这些流体是否含有氧化物质，并评估俯冲基性板块和上覆弧下地幔中氧化还原条件变化的影响。为了实现这一目标，该项目将首次利用从西阿尔卑斯山挖掘出的高压变质岩中单个石榴石晶体生长带的铁和锌同位素分析。这将与精确的Sm/Nd带石榴石地质年代学相结合，以提供对氧化还原控制变质反应的速率和时间尺度的见解。在国际合作伙伴网络的帮助下，该项目旨在提供一个独特的高分辨率地球化学和地质年代学数据集，以评估发生在俯冲带界面的过程及其与弧下地幔氧化和火山弧岩浆作用的关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Subduction zones are key areas of geologic activity in which two plates collide and one plate is forced beneath the other and subducted deep into the Earth’s mantle. Subduction zones are responsible for some of the most important global geologic events and significantly impact humans and populated areas by causing earthquakes and creating large volcanic arcs such as the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’. Uncertainty exists in the degree to which subduction zone volcanism is controlled by the exchange of material and fluids between the subducting plate and the overlying mantle rocks. One way to study such processes, is to analyze rocks that were previously subducted to great depths but have since been exhumed and returned to the Earth’s surface. The aim of this project is to investigate the record of the release and characteristics of fluids produced during subduction contained within individual garnet crystals in exhumed subduction zone rocks from the Western Alps (Italy/Switzerland). This study will further our understanding into the importance of subduction-derived fluids in controlling whether rocks within the subducting plate and the overlying mantle are more chemically oxidized or reduced, which will provide insights into their role in controlling volcanic arc magmatism. This project will support a post-doctoral researcher at Boston College, who will work with undergraduate students, providing them with training in analytical techniques and research experience. The research team from Boston College will work with a large network of collaborators from Europe and the US. An important component of this project will include undergraduate students travelling to Europe to conduct their own research with the help of European collaborators. Much debate exists around the role of metamorphic fluids, released during dehydration of the subducting slab, in controlling the redox conditions of the overlying sub-arc mantle and in explaining the oxidized and volatile-enriched geochemical signatures of volcanic arc magmas. The transfer of multi-valent, redox-sensitive elements such as S, C, and Fe from the subducting slab, represents a potential mechanism to produce oxidation of the sub-arc mantle. The proposed research will test the hypothesis that oxidizing species are released within fluids during dehydration of the mafic component of the slab during subduction. This study involves creating a field-based record of the release of fluids during subduction of the mafic crust, examining whether these fluids contain oxidizing species, and assessing the implications for changing redox conditions within the subducting mafic slab and overlying sub-arc mantle. To achieve this, the project will utilize the first coupled Fe and Zn isotopic analyses of growth zones within individual garnet crystals from exhumed high-pressure metamorphic rocks from the Western Alps. This will be combined with precise Sm/Nd zoned garnet geochronology to provide insights into the rates and timescales of redox-controlling metamorphic reactions. With the help of an international network of collaborators, this project aims to provide a uniquely high-resolution geochemical and geochronological dataset to assess processes occurring at the subduction zone interface and their relationship to oxidation of the sub-arc mantle and volcanic arc magmatism.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.