Mid-mantle water transportation implied by the electrical and seismic properties of ε-FeOOH

Abstract

Water in the mantle transition zone and the core-mantle boundary plays a key role in Earth’s stratification, volatile cycling, and core formation. If water transportation is actively running between the aforementioned layers, the lower mantle should contain water channels with distinctive seismic and/or electromagnetic signatures. Here, we investigated the electrical conductivity and sound velocity of ε-FeOOH up to 71 GPa and 1800 K and compared them with global tomography data. An abrupt three-order jump of electrical conductivity was observed above 50 GPa, reaching 1.24(12) × 103 S/m at 61 GPa. Meanwhile, the longitudinal sound velocity dropped by 16.8% in response to the high-to-low spin transition of Fe3+. The high-conductivity and low-sound velocity of ε-FeOOH match the features of heterogenous scatterers in the mid-lower mantle. Such unique properties of hydrous ε-FeOOH, or possibly other Fe-enriched phases can be detected as evidence of active water transportation in the mid-lower mantle.