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The Earth's Heterogeneous Mantle pp 259–274Cite as

Elasticity of Continental Crust Around the Mantle Transition Zone

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Abstract

The fate and amount of granitic materials subducted into the deep mantle are still under debate. The density , elastic property, and phase stability of granitic materials in the mantle pressures are key to clarifying them. Here, we modeled high-pressure properties of the granitic assemblage by using ab initio mineral physics data of grossular garnet, K-hollandite, jadeite, stishovite, and calcium ferrite (CF)-type phase. We find that the ongoing subducting granitic assemblage, such as sediments and average upper crust rocks, is much denser than pyrolite in the pressure range from 9 GPa (~270 km), at which coesite undergoes a phase transition to stishovite, to around 27 GPa (~740 km). Above this pressure, granitic material becomes less dense than a pyrolite. This indicates that the granitic assemblage becomes gravitationally stable at the base of the mantle transition zone (MTZ). Results suggest a possibility that the granitic materials could accumulate around the 740 km depth if carried into the depth deeper than 270 km and segregated at some depth. Comparison of the velocities between granitic and pyrolitic materials shows that granitic materials can produce substantial velocity anomalies in the MTZ and the uppermost lower mantle (LM). Seismic observations such as anomalously fast velocities, especially for the shear wave, around the 660-km discontinuity, the complexity of 660-km discontinuity, and the scatterers in the uppermost LM could be associated with the subducted granitic materials.

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Acknowledgments

We thank S. Yamamoto, H. Ichikawa, I. Jackson, and S. Maruyama for valuable discussion. We also thank J. Brodholt and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments, which greatly improved our manuscript. This work was completed under the support in part of KAKENHI (Grant Nos. 23540560, 24840020, and 23224012).

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Author notes

  1. Kenji Kawai

    Present address: Department of Earth Science and Astronomy, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba 3-8-1, Meguro, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Kenji Kawai

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama 2-12-1, Meguro, Tokyo, 152-8551, Japan

    Kenji Kawai

  3. Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho 2-5, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan

    Taku Tsuchiya

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  1. Kenji Kawai
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Correspondence to Kenji Kawai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Amir Khan

  2. Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Frédéric Deschamps

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Kawai, K., Tsuchiya, T. (2015). Elasticity of Continental Crust Around the Mantle Transition Zone. In: Khan, A., Deschamps, F. (eds) The Earth's Heterogeneous Mantle. Springer Geophysics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15627-9_8

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