Water and carbon in the Earth's mantle

Conference item

The concentrations of H2O and C in mid-ocean ridge basalts indicate that the upper, degassed, part of the mantle contains approximately 200 ppm H2O and 80 ppm C. Estimates for the bulk silicate earth are less precise, but, from geochemical and cosmochemical arguments, values of 550-1900 ppm for H2O and 900-3700 ppm for C are plausible. The implications is that the (undegassed) lower mantle is enriched relative to the upper mantle in these volatile components, but concentrations there are only of the order of 2000 ppm.

Authors: Wood, B; Pawley, A; Frost, DR

• Publication status: Published
• Host title: PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
• Volume: 354
• Issue: 1711
• Pages: 1495-1511
• Publication date: 1996-06-15
• DOI: 10.1098/rsta.1996.0060
• EISSN: 1471-2962
• ISSN: 1364-503X