OH incorporation and retention in eclogite-facies garnets from the Zermatt–Saas area (Switzerland) and their contribution to the deep water cycle

The incorporation mechanisms of OH groups in garnet were investigated in a suite of high-pressure rocks from the Zermatt–Saas area (Switzerland) using a combination of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA). Investigated garnet specimens include grossular–andradite–uvarovite solid solutions in serpentinite and rodingite and almandine–grossular–pyrope–spessartine solid solutions in eclogite, mafic fels and meta-sediment. All rocks experienced the same peak metamorphic conditions corresponding to a burial depth of ∼ 80 km (∼ 540 ∘C, 2.3 GPa), allowing determination of the OH content in garnet as a function of rock type. The capacity for OH incorporation into garnet strongly depends on its composition. Andradite-rich (400–5000 µg g−1 H2O) and grossular-rich garnet (200–1800 µg g−1 H2O) contain at least 1 order of magnitude more H2O than almandine-rich garnet (< 120 µg g−1 H2O). Microscale analyses using FTIR and EPMA profiles and maps reveal the preservation of OH zoning throughout the metamorphic history of the samples. The OH content correlates strongly with Mn, Ca and Ti zoning and produces distinct absorption bands that are characteristic of multiple nano-scale OH environments. The use of 2D diffusion modelling suggests that H diffusion rates in these rocks is as low as log(D[m2 s−1]) = −24.5 at 540 ∘C. Data were collected for the main garnet-bearing rock types of the Zermatt–Saas area allowing a mass balance model of H2O to be calculated. The result shows that ∼ 3360 kg H2O km−1 (section of oceanic crust) yr−1 could be transported by garnet in the subducting slab beyond 80 km depth and contributed to the deep-Earth water cycle during the Eocene subduction of the Piemonte–Liguria Ocean.