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Table 1 Mass and the water storage capacity (the maximum water content that can be dissolved in minerals (or melts) in each region)

From: Deep mantle melting, global water circulation and its implications for the stability of the ocean mass

 

MTZ

UMb

Oceanic platec

Mantle wedged

MRLe

LM

Mass (1023 kg)

4

5

0.1

0.1

0.8

20

Water storage capacity (1021 kg)

8 (6)a

0.7 (0.5)a

0.05 (0.03)a

0.01 (0.007)a

0.4 (0.3)a

2f (1.4)a

  1. MTZ Mantle transition zone, UM Upper mantle, MRL Melt-rich layer, LM Lower mantle
  2. Plumes containing buoyant water-rich melt are not included in this Table since their volume is unknown
  3. aThe numbers in the parenthesis are relative to the ocean mass (= 1.4 × 1021 kg)
  4. bTypical upper mantle (asthenosphere) “plumes” containing water-rich buoyant melt are not included
  5. cHydrated portion of oceanic plate (5 km, 1 wt% water). The main part of the oceanic lithosphere (plate) is essentially dry (less than 0.01 wt% (Peslier et al. 2017)). Upon excess cracking, this term will increase above the normal value listed in this table (e.g., Cai et al. 2018; Faccenda et al. 2009; Garth and Rietbrock 2014).
  6. dMantle wedge is assumed to have 300 km depth and 200 km from the trench
  7. eMRL above 410 km is assumed to be 1 km thick, and MRL at ~ 750 km is assumed to be 50 km thick but occupies ~ 10% of area, and the water content is assumed to be 0.5 wt% (5 wt% melt with 10 wt% water)
  8. fThe water solubility in the lower mantle minerals is not well constrained. We used a value of 0.1 wt % based on (Fu et al. 2019) (this is likely an over-estimate if we consider a likely pressure effect)