Petrology of Deep Storage, Ingassing, and Outgassing of Terrestrial Carbon (Invited)

Fluxes of carbon between the mantle and the exosphere modulate Earth's atmosphere and climate on short to long time scales. Carbon geochemistry of mantle-derived samples suggests that the fluxes associated with deep cycle are in the order of 1012-13 g C/yr and the reservoir sizes involved in deep carbon are in the order of 1022-23 g C. Petrology of deep storage is critical to this long-term evolution and distribution of terrestrial carbon. Here I synthesize the petrologic constraints that are critical in understanding the evolution of deep terrestrial carbon. Carbon is a volatile, trace element in the Earth's mantle. But unlike most other trace elements including hydrogen, which in the Earth’s mantle is held in dominant silicate minerals, carbon is stored in accessory phases. The accessory phase of interest, with increasing depth, changes typically from fluids/melts → calcite/dolomite → magnesite → diamond/ Fe-rich alloy/ Fe-metal carbide, assuming that the mass balance and oxidation state are buffered solely by silicates. If, however, carbon is sufficiently abundant, locally it may overwhelm the mass balance and redox buffer of the Earth’s interior. For example, carbon may reside as carbonate even in the deep mantle, which otherwise is thought to be reduced and not conducive for carbonate stability. If Earth's deep mantle is Fe-metal saturated, carbon storage in metal alloy and as metal carbide is difficult to avoid for depleted and enriched domains, respectively. Carbon ingassing to the interior is aided by modern subduction of the carbonated oceanic lithosphere, whereas outgassing from the mantle is controlled by decompression melting of carbon-bearing mantle. Carbonated melting at >300 km depth or redox melting of diamond-bearing or metal/metal carbide-bearing mantle at somewhat shallower depth generates carbonatitic and carbonated silicate melts, which are the chief agents for liberating carbon from the solid Earth to the exosphere. Petrology allows net ingassing of carbon into the mantle in the modern Earth, but in the hotter subduction zones that prevailed during the Hadean, Archean, and most of Proterozoic, recycled carbonate likely was released at shallow mantle wedge depths and may have returned to the exosphere more efficiently through arc volcanism. Release of primordial carbon through magmatism was also likely more vigorous owing to deeper intersection of solidi and hotter mantle adiabat. Inefficient ingassing, along with efficient outgassing, may have maintained the ancient mantle carbon-poor. If this is accurate, then the present-day carbon budget of the mantle is likely shaped mostly from NeoProterozoic through Phanerozoic, a time when thermal state of the planet allowed deep subduction of carbonated crustal rocks.