¹¹B-rich fluids in subduction zones: the role of antigorite dehydration in subducting slabs and boron isotope heterogeneity in the mantle

Serpentinites form by hydration of mantle peridotite and constitute the largest potential reservoir of fluid-mobile elements entering subduction zones. Isotope ratios of one such element, boron, distinguish fluid contributions from crustal versus serpentinite sources. Despite 85% of boron hosted within abyssal peridotite being lost at the onset of subduction at the lizardite-to-antigorite transition, a sufficient cargo of boron to account for the composition of island arc magma is retained (c. 7μgg ^-1, with a δ ¹¹B of +22‰) until the down-going slab reaches the antigorite-out isograd. At this point a ¹¹B-rich fluid, capable of providing the distinctive δ ¹¹B signature of island arc basalts, is released. Beyond the uniquely preserved antigorite-out isograd in serpentinites from Cerro del Almirez, Betic Cordillera, Spain, the prograde lithologies (antigorite-chlorite-orthopyroxene-olivine serpentinite, granofels-texture chlorite-harzburgite and spinifex-texture chlorite-harzburgite) have very different boron isotope signatures (δ ¹¹B=-3 to +6‰), but with no significant difference in boron concentration compared to the antigorite-serpentinite on the low P-T side of the isograd. ¹¹B-rich fluid, which at least partly equilibrated with pelagic sediments, is implicated in the composition of these prograde lithologies, which dehydrated under open-system conditions. Serpentinite-hosted boron lost during the early stages of dehydration is readily incorporated into forearc peridotite. This, in turn, may be dragged to sub-arc depths as a result of subduction erosion and incorporated in a mélange comprising forearc serpentinite, altered oceanic crust and pelagic sediment. At the antigorite-out isograd it dehydrates, thus potentially providing an additional source of ¹¹B-rich fluids.