Single-Crystal Elasticity of Antigorite at High Pressures and Seismic Detection of Serpentinized Slabs

The subduction of serpentinized slabs is the dominant process to transport water into Earth's mantle, and plays a pivotal role for subduction dynamics. Antigorite, the most abundant serpentine mineral in subduction settings, may imprint a seismic signature on serpentinized slabs, making them seismically distinguishable from the dry, non-serpentinized ones. However, the complete single-crystal elasticity of antigorite has not been experimentally constrained at high pressures, hindering the use of seismological approaches to detect serpentinization in subducting slabs. Here, we report the full elastic stiffness tensor of antigorite by single-crystal Brillouin spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction up to 7.71(5) GPa. We use our results to model seismic properties of antigorite-bearing rocks and show that their seismological detectability depends on the geometrical relation between seismic wave paths and foliation of serpentinized rocks. In particular, we demonstrate that seismic shear anisotropy shows low sensitivity to serpentinization for a range of relevant geometries.

Automated summary

This study experimentally determined the complete single-crystal elasticity of antigorite and used the results to model the seismic properties of antigorite-bearing rocks. The study showed that seismic shear anisotropy has a low sensitivity to serpentinization, making it challenging to detect serpentinized slabs using seismological approaches.