Carbonated mantle: modelling the effect of carbonated melts on mantle melting and conductivity

Abstract

The effect of carbonated melts is observed to have significant deepening of the solidus and high conductivity as a function of CO₂ concentration in the melt. This study parameterises these two effects and presents a model that determines mantle melt fraction and bulk hydration from conductivity observations, using the melting models of McKenzie and Bickle (1988), Katz et al. (2003), and Hirschmann (2010). This model is applied to conductivity data of Key et al. (2013) and Wannamaker et al. (2008) for the East Pacific Rise and the Basin and Range, Colorado, respectively. My interpretations of melting and hydration, are in agreement with those posed by the Key et al. (2013) and Wannamaker et al. (2008).