Slab stagnation sustained by wet harzburgite and dry basaltic slab assemblages

<title>Abstract</title> Slab stagnation in the mantle transition zone is critical for the mantle dynamics and evolution of Earth’s interior but remains poorly understood1-4. Here we present seismic images that show two key features near Eurasia's northeastern margin: 1) a 700-km-deep, 400-km-wide discontinuity within the slab stagnation zone, matching the akimotoite-bridgmanite transition in an anhydrous basaltic assemblage at adiabatic temperature of ~1000K, and 2) the 660-km discontinuity depressed below the Clapeyron slope of the post-spinel phase transition by ~15 and ~10 km , likely induced by water, respectively in front of the Pacific plate and at the center of the slab stagnation zone. Our mineral physics modeling indicates that the slab stagnation is initiated and sustained predominantly by buoyancy from the excess depressions in the pyrolite and harzburgite mantle and aided by buoyancy of the dry basaltic assemblage in the uppermost lower mantle.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-07-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75639-9
Primary Topic
High-pressure geophysics and materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Slab stagnation sustained by wet harzburgite and dry basaltic slab assemblages

Xiaoming Xu, Yang Shen, Hua Xiang, Jianyu Shi et al.
Nature Communications
High-pressure geophysics and materials
article

Slab stagnation sustained by wet harzburgite and dry basaltic slab assemblages

Xiaoming Xu, Yang Shen, Hua Xiang, Jianyu Shi, Rongtao Zhao, Yan Yang, Yongqian Zhang, Yao Xu, Changxin Chen, Danian Shi
article en

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> Slab stagnation in the mantle transition zone is critical for the mantle dynamics and evolution of Earth’s interior but remains poorly understood1-4. Here we present seismic images that show two key features near Eurasia's northeastern margin: 1) a 700-km-deep, 400-km-wide discontinuity within the slab stagnation zone, matching the akimotoite-bridgmanite transition in an anhydrous basaltic assemblage at adiabatic temperature of ~1000K, and 2) the 660-km discontinuity depressed below the Clapeyron slope of the post-spinel phase transition by ~15 and ~10 km , likely induced by water, respectively in front of the Pacific plate and at the center of the slab stagnation zone. Our mineral physics modeling indicates that the slab stagnation is initiated and sustained predominantly by buoyancy from the excess depressions in the pyrolite and harzburgite mantle and aided by buoyancy of the dry basaltic assemblage in the uppermost lower mantle.

Nature Communications
University of Rhode Island (US), Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CN), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology (CZ), National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (CN), China Earthquake Administration (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Geological Survey, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 99%
High-pressure geophysics and materials
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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