Incorporation of hydroxyl in upper-mantle clinopyroxenes
- Creators
- Smyth, J. R.
- Bell, D. R.
- Rossman, G. R.
Abstract
Water (and hydroxyl, OH) plays an important part in determining the properties of minerals and melts in the Earth's upper mantle. The main hydroxyl-bearing phases found in rocks from the upper mantle, phlogopite and amphibole, are not believed to exist in significant quantities at depth. Some of the less abundant phases found in these rocks contain small amounts of hydrous components, but do not constitute an important reservoir for water. Traces of hydroxyl have been found in common mantle phases, but not at concentrations high enough to account for the amount of water thought to be present at depth. An exception is suggested by a report that the pyroxene (omphacite) in an eclogite nodule from the Roberts Victor kimberlite pipe contains up to 1,000 p.p.m. OH. Here we show that some of this hydroxyl is associated with cation vacancies in sodic clinopyroxene, and that these pyroxenes may be an important reservoir for hydrous components in the upper mantle.
Additional Information
© 1991 Nature Publishing Group. Received 10 January; accepted 13 May 1991. We thank J. J. Gurney and J. B. Hawthorne for samples and T. McCormick for helpful discussions. This study was funded in part by the NSF.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 37906
- DOI
- 10.1038/351732a0
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130412-101240768
- NSF
- Created
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2013-04-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences