Carbonatites have formed for at least the past three billion years. But over the past 700 My the incidence of carbonatites have significantly increased. We compile an updated list of 609 carbonatite occurrences and plot 387 of known age on plate tectonic reconstructions. Plate reconstructions from Devonian to present show that 75% of carbonatites are emplaced within 600 km of craton edges. Carbonatites are also associated with large igneous provinces, orogenies, and rift zones, suggesting that carbonatite magmatism is restricted to discrete geotectonic environments that can overlap in space and time. Temporal constraints indicate carbonatites and related magmas may form an ephemeral but significant flux of carbon between the mantle and atmosphere.
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Research Article|
October 01, 2021
Carbonatites and Global Tectonics
Emma R. Humphreys-Williams;
Natural History Museum, Imaging and Analysis Centre, London, SW7 5BD, UK
E-mail: [email protected]
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Sabin Zahirovic
University of Sydney, School of Geosciences, NSW 2006 Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
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E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
First Online:
03 Feb 2022
Online ISSN: 1811-5217
Print ISSN: 1811-5209
Copyright © 2021 by the Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
Elements (2021) 17 (5): 339–344.
Article history
First Online:
03 Feb 2022
Citation
Emma R. Humphreys-Williams, Sabin Zahirovic; Carbonatites and Global Tectonics. Elements 2021;; 17 (5): 339–344. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.17.5.339
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