Gold mobility in subduction zones, the slab perspective

Patten CG, Peillod A, Hector S, Kleine-Marshall B, Beranoaguirre A, Drüppel K, Pitcairn IK, Skelton AD, Kolb J

Publication Type: Journal article

Journal

Communications Earth & Environment Springer Nature Limited

Original Authors: Clifford G. C. Patten, Alexandre Peillod, Simon Hector, Barbara I. Kleine-Marshall, Aratz Beranoaguirre, Antonin Bilau, Kirsten Drüppel, Jesse B. Walters, Iain Pitcairn, Uwe Ring, Alasdair Skelton, Jochen Kolb

DOI: 10.1038/s43247-026-03653-2

Abstract

Arc environments are locally gold-endowed and it has been long hypothesized that gold mobilization during slab dehydration could affect mantle composition and arc Au-fertility. Here, we determine gold mobility during prograde high pressure-low temperature metamorphism of both metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks from the islands of Santorini, Ios, Naxos and Syros (Greece). These rocks experienced peak greenschist to upper-blueschist/eclogite facies metamorphism, allowing determination of large-scale gold mobility within a subduction zone. Our data shows that gold is significantly mobilized by fluids at the blueschist-eclogite facies transition. In the associated mélange zones at the slab-mantle interface gold shows heterogeneous concentration but is not enriched, implying only partial retention of gold in the mélange and its mobilization across the slab-mantle interface. Furthermore, the intrinsically complex lithologies and heterogenous gold concentrations of these mélange zones contribute to the slab component inherent to arc magmatism, and can affect magmatism gold-fertility.

Authors with CRIS profile

Barbara Kleine-Marshall Professur für Geochemie von Lagerstätten

Involved external institutions

Stockholm University / Stockholms universitet SE Sweden (SE) Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz AT Austria (AT) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Patten, C.G., Peillod, A., Hector, S., Kleine-Marshall, B., Beranoaguirre, A., Drüppel, K.,... Kolb, J. (2026). Gold mobility in subduction zones, the slab perspective. Communications Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03653-2

MLA:

Patten, Clifford G.C., et al. "Gold mobility in subduction zones, the slab perspective." Communications Earth & Environment (2026).

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