COG3 Seminar – Ethan Baxter (Boston College)

The Chronology of Subduction Zone Dehydration

Subduction zones are where water and other essential chemicals are returned to the earth’s interior. This water is carried by hydrous minerals such as serpentine and lawsonite within the oceanic crust and mantle. When these and other hydrous minerals break down at depth, the water is released via dehydration reactions leading to some of Earth’s most fundamental processes such as earthquakes, volcanism, and the growth of continents. In this talk, I will present geochemical and geochronological studies of subducted rocks that record these critical dehydration processes. These data reveal that subduction zone dehydration can occur in focused pulses spanning a few hundred thousand years of less.

About this Series: The Chemical Oceanography, Geology, Geochemistry, and Geobiology Seminar [COG3] is a student-run seminar series. Topics include chemical oceanography, geology, geochemistry, and geobiology. For more information contact: cog3_seminar_organizers@mit.edu