New experiments shed light on the complex interplay between rock deformation and metamorphism. Slab stagnation in Earth’s mantle transition zone may be explained by transient weakening during the olivine–spinel phase transition.
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References
Sauveur, A. What is steel? Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Metall. Eng. 70, 3–24 (1924). This paper reports early observations of anomalous weakening during phase transformations in iron.
Poirier, J. P. On transformation plasticity. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 87, 6791–6797 (1982). This short review provides a theoretical treatment of transformation plasticity.
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Green, H. W. II & Burnley, P. C. A new self-organizing mechanism for deep-focus earthquakes. Nature 341, 733–737 (1989). This paper reports observations of weakening due to faulting during phase transitions.
Mohiuddin, A., Karato, S.-I. & Girard, J. Slab weakening during the olivine to ringwoodite transition in the mantle. Nat. Geosci. 13, 170–174 (2020). This paper reports observations of weakening due to grain-size reduction produced by phase transitions.
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This is a summary of: Cross, A. J. et al. Direct observations of transient weakening during phase transformations in quartz and olivine. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01703-6 (2025).
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Slab dynamics linked to transient weakening during mineral phase transitions. Nat. Geosci. 18, 457–458 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01712-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01712-5
