Metastable olivine wedge and deep dry cold slab beneath southwest Japan

Oceanic plates subducted at trenches penetrate into the deep mantle, and encounter a structural boundary at a depth of 410 km where olivine, the dominant element of mantle rocks, transforms into a higher density form wadsleyite. This transformation may be delayed within the coldest core of subducting plates (slabs) due to kinetic effects, and it has been suggested that metastable olivine may persist deeper than 410 km. Using high density seismic array data in Japan, we show the direct image of the structure corresponding to this metastable olivine wedge (MOW) beneath southwest Japan. Numerical simulation of a subducting slab, including the kinetic effect of water (H2O) on the olivine–wadsleyite transformation, indicates that the presence of the imaged MOW requires an insignificant amount of water (less than 100 wt. ppm) be present in the slab mantle, thus a deep dry cold slab. We infer that the transportation of water into the deep mantle occurs along the top surface of the subducting slab, but no significant amount within the slab itself. We also demonstrate that a numerical simulation including the kinetics of 660-km phase transformation can reconcile the observed deep depression of the 660-km discontinuity with a gentle Clapeyron slope.

Research Highlights
► First direct image of the postulated meta-stable olivine wedge in subducting slab is obtained.
► Dynamic modeling with kinetics of phase transformation indicates the deep slab mantle is dry.
► Water may be transported into deep mantle mainly through a channel atop the subducting slab.