Much of the long-term carbon cycle in solid earth occurs in subduction zones, where processes of devolatilization, partial melting of carbonated rocks, and dissolution of carbonate minerals lead to the return of CO2 to the atmosphere via volcanic degassing. Release of COH fluids from hydrous and carbonate minerals influences C recycling and magmatism at subduction zones. Contradictory interpretations exist regarding the retention/storage of C in subducting plates and in the forearc to subarc mantle. Several lines of evidence indicate mobility of C, of uncertain magnitude, in forearcs. A poorly constrained fraction of the 40-115 Mt/yr of C initially subducted is released into fluids (by decarbonation and/or carbonate dissolution) and 18-43 Mt/yr is returned at arc volcanoes. Current estimates suggest the amount of C released into subduction fluids is greater than that degassed at arc volcanoes: the imbalance could reflect C subduction into the deeper mantle, beyond subarc regions, or storage of C in forearc/subarc reservoirs.We examine the fate of C in plate-interface ultramafic rocks, and by analogy serpentinized mantle wedge, via study of fluid-rock evolution of marble and variably carbonated serpentinite in the Ligurian Alps. Based on petrography, major and trace element concentrations, and carbonate C and O isotope compositions, we demonstrate that serpentinite dehydration at 2-2.5 GPa, 550 °C released aqueous fluids triggering breakdown of dolomite in nearby marbles, thus releasing C into fluids. Carbonate + olivine veins document flow of COH fluids and that the interaction of these COH fluids with serpentinite led to the formation of high-P carbonated ultramafic-rock domains (high-P ophicarbonates). We estimate that this could result in the retention of ~0.5-2.0 Mt C/yr in such rocks along subduction interfaces. As another means of C storage, 1 to 3 km-thick layers of serpentinized forearc mantle wedge containing 50 modal % dolomite could sequester 1.62 to 4.85 Mt C/yr.We stress that lithologically complex interfaces could contain sites of both C release and C addition, further confounding estimates of net C loss at forearc and subarc depths. Sites of C retention, also including carbonate veins and graphite as reduced carbonate, could influence the transfer of slab C to at least the depths beneath volcanic fronts

A computational strategy is devised for the accurate ab initio simulation of elastic properties of crystalline materials under pressure. The proposed scheme, based on the evaluation of the analytical stress tensor and on the automated computation of pressure-dependent elastic stiffness constants, is implemented in the CRYSTAL solid state quantum-chemical program. Elastic constants and related properties (bulk, shear and Young moduli, directional seismic wave velocities, elastic anisotropy index, Poisson's ratio, etc.) can be computed for crystals of any space group of symmetry. We apply such a technique to the study of high-pressure elastic properties of three silicate garnet end-members (namely, pyrope, grossular, and andradite) which are of great geophysical interest, being among the most important rock-forming minerals. The reliability of this theoretical approach is proved by comparing with available experimental measurements. The description of high-pressure properties provided by several equations of state is also critically discussed.

calcoli ab-initio sulle proprietà termodinamiche di fasi stabili ad alta pression

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Thermodynamic and thermophysical properties of NaSiO in the Cmc2 structural state are computed ab initio using the hybrid B3LYP density functional method. The static properties at the athermal limit are first evaluated through a symmetry-preserving relaxation procedure. The thermodynamic properties that depend on vibrational frequencies, viz., heat capacities, thermal expansion, thermal derivative of the bulk modulus, thermal correction to internal energy, enthalpy, and Gibbs free energy, are then computed in the framework of quasi-harmonic approximation. Acoustic branches are computed by solving the Christoffel determinant and are assumed to follow sine wave dispersion when traveling within the Brillouin zone. The procedure generates several thermo-physical properties of interest in materials science and geophysics (transverse and longitudinal wave velocities, shear modulus, Young modulus, Poisson ratio) all consistent with experimentally determined properties. A representative cluster is then abstracted from the cell and a detailed electron localization/delocalization analysis is performed on it, in the ground state geometry, and on deformed states imposed by two peculiar mixed asymmetric stretching/bending modes affecting the silicate chain that, according to literature data, have anomalous mode Grüneisen parameters. A Bader analysis reveals an intriguing feature associated with these deformations: an increase in the covalence of the Si-O bond that strengthens the linkage opposing the weakening induced by thermal stress. Finally, on the same cluster, the Ramsey contributions to the J coupling are evaluated by the gauge-independent atomic orbital method. The calculated isotropic chemical shifts of both Na andSi are again in substantial agreement with observations.