Deep fluid release beneath arcs from delayed breaching of the slab lower crust

Slabs in subduction zones with geotherms of 7 K km^-1 or higher are expected to dehydrate effectively in the forearc. Nevertheless, large amounts of water are released from these slabs at and beyond subarc depth, indicating that H₂O remains slab-bound to much greater depth than expected. It is possible that this reflects a transient sealing effect exerted by the subducting lower crust—a section of the lithosphere that typically undergoes delayed recation and is effectively impermeable until then. To test this concept, we investigated gabbros that were partially transformed to hydrous eclogite along shear zones during subduction. The rocks were subjected to a textural, petrological and Li-chronometric analysis. The observations characterize the progressive stages of transformation, and provide detailed insight into the governing feedbacks among fluid flow, deformation, and reaction. Lithium chronometry indicates that it took only a few weeks for the shear zone network to develop and for the externally derived fluids to traverse this network and drive eclogitization; the switch in these rocks—going from strong to weak and from impermeable to sustaining long-range fluid flow—thus was essentially instanteneous on subduction time scales. The re-equilibration of the rocks occurred well beyond equilibrium at c. 90 km depth, which is where large fluid-filled channel system typically emanate from warm slabs. Our data suggest that the fluids that are produced in the slab mantle throughout the forearc accumulate beneath the Moho until the lower crust is breached by dynamic fluid vents and commences its delayed transformation. The subducting lower crust may thus be a exert a strong control on H₂O and element budgets, and the rheology of slabs in warm subduction zones.