Abstract:
We present partial melting experiments that constrain the near solidus phase relations of carbonated eclogite from 2 to 8.5 GPa. The starting material was prepared by adding 5 wt.% CO2 in the form of a mixture of Fe–Mg–Ca–Na–K carbonates to an eclogite from Salt Lake crater, Oahu, Hawaii and is a reasonable approximation of carbonated oceanic crust from which siliceous hydrous fluids have been extracted during subduction. Melt-present versus melt-absent conditions are distinguished based on textural criteria. Garnet and clinopyroxene appear in all the experiments. Between 2 and 3 GPa, the subsolidus assemblage also includes ilmenite±calcio-dolomitess±CO2, whereas above the solidus (1050–1075 °C at 3 GPa) calcio-dolomitic liquid appears. From 3 to 4.5 GPa, dolomitess is stable at the solidus and the near-solidus melt becomes increasingly dolomitic. The appearance of dolomite above 3 GPa is accompanied by a negative Clapeyron slope of the solidus, with a minimum located between 995 and 1025 °C at ca. 4 GPa. Above 4 GPa, the solidus rises with increasing pressure to 1245±35 °C at 8.5 GPa and magnesite becomes the subsolidus carbonate. Dolomitic melt coexists with magnesite+garnet+cpx+rutile along the solidus from 5 to 8.5 GPa.