Single-Crystal Elasticity of Antigorite at High Pressures and Seismic Detection of Serpentinized Slabs

Title data

Satta, Niccolò ; Grafulha Morales, Luiz Fernando ; Criniti, Giacomo ; Kurnosov, Alexander ; Boffa Ballaran, Tiziana ; Speziale, Sergio ; Marquardt, Katharina ; Capitani, Gian Carlo ; Marquardt, Hauke:
Single-Crystal Elasticity of Antigorite at High Pressures and Seismic Detection of Serpentinized Slabs.
In: Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 49 (2022) Issue 16 . - e2022GL099411.
ISSN 1944-8007
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099411

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Abstract The subduction of serpentinized slabs is the dominant process to transport “water” into Earth's mantle, and plays a pivotal role for subduction dynamics. Antigorite, the most abundant serpentine mineral in subduction settings, may imprint a seismic signature on serpentinized slabs, making them seismically distinguishable from the dry, non-serpentinized ones. However, the complete single-crystal elasticity of antigorite has not been experimentally constrained at high pressures, hindering the use of seismological approaches to detect serpentinization in subducting slabs. Here, we report the full elastic stiffness tensor of antigorite by single-crystal Brillouin spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction up to 7.71(5) GPa. We use our results to model seismic properties of antigorite-bearing rocks and show that their seismological detectability depends on the geometrical relation between seismic wave paths and foliation of serpentinized rocks. In particular, we demonstrate that seismic shear anisotropy shows low sensitivity to serpentinization for a range of relevant geometries.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Keywords:	serpentine; elasticity; Brillouin spectroscopy; antigorite; seismic anisotropy; shear wave splitting
Institutions of the University:	Research Institutions > Central research institutes > Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry and Geophysics - BGI Research Institutions Research Institutions > Central research institutes
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	500 Science > 550 Earth sciences, geology
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2023 21:01
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2023 05:41
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/86273