Hydrous Regions of the Mantle Transition Zone Lie Beneath Areas of Continental Intraplate Volcanism

Great volumes of water are carried downward into the mantle transition zone (MTZ, 410–670 km depth) by subducting slabs. If this water is later drawn upward, the resulting mantle melting may generate continental intraplate volcanism (IPV). Despite water's importance, its amount and spatial distribution within the MTZ, and its impact on IPV, are poorly constrained. Here we use plate tectonic reconstructions to estimate the rates and positions of water injection into the MTZ by subducted slabs during the past 400 Myr. This allows us to construct global maps of heterogeneous MTZ hydration, which we then compare to IPV eruption locations from the past 200 Myr. We detect a statistically significant correlation between wet MTZ regions and IPV locations at the surface, but only if slabs sink faster than 1 cm/yr, water remains stored in the MTZ for periods of 30–100 Myr, and IPV eruptions occur 10–30 Myr later. We find that 42%–68% of continental IPV is underlain by wet MTZ, with greater fractions associated with longer MTZ residence time. Hydrous underpinning of continental IPV was highest during the Jurassic, when more extensive slab interaction with the MTZ hydrated a wider area of the MTZ. Since the Cretaceous, continents have been moving over the wet MTZ, increasing IPV possibilities. MTZ regions near the northern Pacific, southern Africa, and western Europe have remained dry by avoiding wet slabs. We suggest that subducted water shapes global patterns of intraplate volcanism, with hydrous upwellings rising from the MTZ to generate continental IPV above wet MTZ regions.