Observational and experimental study on water contentin the Earth's mantle

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Water in the Earth’s mantle as a trace element significantly modifies physical properties of our mantle as well as its convection mode. In this study, we focused on the mantle transition zone, which has been revealed to have high potential for water storage, and aimed at delineating its water content by both seafloor electromagnetic (EM) observation and high-pressure/temperature experiments. The laboratory experiments showed that a small amount of water (<0.1 wt%) cannot have a significant impact on electrical conductivity of the mantle minerals in the transition zone, while the seafloor EM observation revealed a relatively dry (up to a few permil) transition zone beneath the Northwest Pacific Basin.