Volatiles and volatile-bearing melts in the Earth's interior

Abstract

Volatiles and melts in Earth's deep interior play a key role in the dynamics, differentiation and evolution of the planet. Volatiles such as hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and halogens stored at depths in various forms and concentrations, are known to have significant effect on the generation of partial melts. Extraction or impregnation of partial melts in turn can deplete or enrich the mantle in volatiles and causes compositional changes in major and trace elements. The presence of volatiles and melts is also known to influence the rheology and seismic properties of minerals, and likely has considerable influence on convective processes in the mantle. In this special volume we bring together nine selected papers that cover recent advances in geochemical, geophysical, and petrologic constraints on the origin, stability, characterization, and detection of volatiles and volatile-bearing melts in the mantle and on the physical and chemical consequence of the presence of fluids and melts in the mantle processes and properties. This effort is an outgrowth of a successful special session organized in the American Geophysical Union's Fall meeting in 2007 in San Francisco, California, USA as part of Studies of the Earth's Deep Interior focus group. The uniqueness of this volume is that it brings together papers from disciplines spanning solid Earth petrology, geochemistry, and geophysics that are based on natural observations, experimental determinations, and theoretical calculations, that touch on various aspects of volatile cycling in the Earth's interior and influence of volatiles in partial melting and melt properties.