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Title: Redox variations in Mauna Kea lavas, the oxygen fugacity of the Hawaiian plume, and the role of volcanic gases in Earth’s oxygenation

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  2. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

The behavior of C, H, and S in the solid Earth depends on their oxidation states, which are related to oxygen fugacity (fO2). Volcanic degassing is a source of these elements to Earth’s surface; therefore, variations in mantle fO2 may influence the fO2 at Earth’s surface. However, degassing can impact magmatic fO2 before or during eruption, potentially obscuring relationships between the fO2 of the solid Earth and of emitted gases and their impact on surface fO2. We show that low-pressure degassing resulted in reduction of the fO2 of Mauna Kea magmas by more than an order of magnitude. The least degassed magmas from Mauna Kea are more oxidized than midocean ridge basalt (MORB) magmas, suggesting that the upper mantle sources of Hawaiian magmas have higher fO2 than MORB sources. One explanation for this difference is recycling of material from the oxidized surface to the deep mantle, which is then returned to the surface as a component of buoyant plumes. It has been proposed that a decreasing pressure of volcanic eruptions led to the oxygenation of the atmosphere. Extension of our findings via modeling of degassing trends suggests that a decrease in eruption pressure would not produce this effect. If degassing of basalts were responsible for the rise in oxygen, it requires that Archean magmas had at least two orders of magnitude lower fO2 than modern magmas. As a result, estimates of fO2 of Archean magmas are not this low, arguing for alternative explanations for the oxygenation of the atmosphere.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1376255
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 114, Issue 34; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 97 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

Extremely low structural hydroxyl contents in upper mantle xenoliths from the Nógrád-Gömör Volcanic Field (northern Pannonian Basin): Geodynamic implications and the role of post-eruptive re-equilibration journal March 2019
On the relationship between oxidation state and temperature of volcanic gas emissions journal August 2019
Global atmospheric oxygen variations recorded by Th/U systematics of igneous rocks journal September 2019
Evidence for a dominantly reducing Archaean ambient mantle from two redox proxies, and low oxygen fugacity of deeply subducted oceanic crust journal December 2019
Neoproterozoic to early Phanerozoic rise in island arc redox state due to deep ocean oxygenation and increased marine sulfate levels journal April 2019
Contrasting Volcanic Deformation in Arc and Ocean Island Settings Due To Exsolution of Magmatic Water journal July 2022

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