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Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances

Surficial carbonates in mantle plume sources revealed by magnesium isotopes

  • Ze-Zhou Wang1,2
  • Fang-Zhen Teng2
  • Matthew G. Jackson3
  • Catherine Chauvel4
  • Cédric Hamelin5
5 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
  2. 2Isotope Laboratory, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
  3. 3Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
  4. 4Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France.
  5. 5Independent Scholar, Søndre Skogveien 7, 5055 Bergen, Norway.
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Abstract

Deep recycling of surficial carbonates into the mantle may play a critical role in shaping Earth’s long-term habitability, yet its contribution to the deep mantle carbon budget remains uncertain. Magnesium isotopes provide a promising tracer for addressing this issue, because of the uniquely light isotopic signatures of sedimentary carbonates. Here, we present high-precision magnesium isotopic compositions (δ 26 Mg) for 152 globally distributed plume-related lavas sampling diverse mantle end-members. We find that δ 26 Mg values below the bulk silicate Earth range are commonly associated with increasingly pronounced radiogenic isotopic signatures indicative of recycled crustal components. These features are best explained by the incorporation of isotopically light magnesium derived from subducted carbonate-bearing crustal materials into their mantle sources. On the basis of these observations, the lower mantle is estimated to contain up to ∼130 or ∼230–parts per million recycled carbon, potentially constituting a substantial portion of its total carbon budget.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{wang2026surficial,
  title = {{Surficial carbonates in mantle plume sources revealed by magnesium isotopes}},
  author = {Ze-Zhou Wang and Fang-Zhen Teng and Matthew G. Jackson and Catherine Chauvel and Cédric Hamelin},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aee9247},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee9247},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Surficial carbonates in mantle plume sources revealed by magnesium isotopes
AU  - Ze-Zhou Wang
AU  - Fang-Zhen Teng
AU  - Matthew G. Jackson
AU  - Catherine Chauvel
AU  - Cédric Hamelin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/09
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aee9247
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee9247
AB  - Deep recycling of surficial carbonates into the mantle may play a critical role in shaping Earth’s long-term habitability, yet its contribution to the deep mantle carbon budget remains uncertain. Magnesium isotopes provide a promising tracer for addressing this issue, because of the uniquely light isotopic signatures of sedimentary carbonates. Here, we present high-precision magnesium isotopic compositions (δ 26 Mg) for 152 globally distributed plume-related lavas sampling diverse mantle end-members. We find that δ 26 Mg values below the bulk silicate Earth range are commonly associated with increasingly pronounced radiogenic isotopic signatures indicative of recycled crustal components. These features are best explained by the incorporation of isotopically light magnesium derived from subducted carbonate-bearing crustal materials into their mantle sources. On the basis of these observations, the lower mantle is estimated to contain up to ∼130 or ∼230–parts per million recycled carbon, potentially constituting a substantial portion of its total carbon budget.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -