
Yi ChenInstitute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yi Chen
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Publications (125)
Mare volcanics on the Moon are the key record of thermo-chemical evolution throughout most of lunar history1–3. Young mare basalts, mainly distributed in a region rich in potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus (KREEP) in Oceanus Procellarum called the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT)4, were thought to be formed from KREEP-rich sources at dep...
The occurrence of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) and high-pressure (HP) rocks in the Himalayan orogen has been conventionally attributed to the different subduction dip angles along the strike. The western Himalayan UHP eclogites point to a steep continental subduction in the Eocene. The present-day geophysical data show low subduction dip angles of the...
Subduction initiation is one of the most enigmatic and controversial domains in subduction zones. This key process through geological time plays an important role on the activation of Earth’s plate tectonics. This study aims to discuss the discrepancies of thermal structure and metamorphism between subduction initiation and mature subduction, on th...
The exhumation mechanism of high-pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogites formed by the subduction of oceanic crust (hereafter referred to as oceanic eclogites) is one of the primary uncertainties associated with the subduction factory. The phase relations and densities of eclogites with MORB compositions are modelled using thermodynami...
Subduction zone fluids are critical for transporting materials from subducted slabs to the mantle wedge. Jadeitites from Myanmar record fluid compositions and reactions in the forearc subduction channel. Here, we present high-precision Mg isotope data of the Myanmar jadeitites and associated rocks to understand the Mg isotope composition of subduct...
The mechanism and efficiency of CO2 release from subducting carbonates lie at the heart of quantifying carbon cycling in subduction zones. Most previous studies focused on CO2 release from calcite/aragonite, while decarbonation behavior of another critical carbonate—dolomite—is poorly constrained. Here, we investigated reaction veins and zones in d...
Exhumation rates of high-pressure rocks are paramount in determining plate tectonic processes, which requires absolute chronology of metamorphic stages. U-Pb geochronology of zircon and other accessory minerals has proven successful in dating different metamorphic stages, thus constraining geological rates. A common strategy to link U-Pb ages to me...
The redox state of a planetary mantle affects its thermal evolution. The redox evolution of lunar mantle, however, remains unclear due to limited oxygen fugacity (fO2) constraints from young lunar samples. Here, we report vanadium (V) oxybarometers on olivine and spinel conducted on 27 Chang’e-5 basalt fragments from 2.0 billion years ago. These fr...
Plain Language Summary
In this study, we explore how pieces of Earth's outer layer, known as the continental crust, can dive deep into the layer beneath it, called the mantle, reaching depths of up to 660 km. Seismologists struggle to observe this because using current seismological methods is hard to detect crustal signals beyond 150–180 km. To ad...
There is extensive geologic evidence of ancient volcanic activity on the Moon, but it is unclear how long that volcanism persisted. Magma fountains produce volcanic glasses, which have previously been found in samples of the Moon’s surface. We investigated ~3000 glass beads in lunar soil samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission and identified thr...
The paradigm of lunar crust formation has been widely applied to other terrestrial bodies, but the nature of early crust building on the Moon remains enigmatic. Here we report non-Apollo-like highland clasts from the Chang’e-5 mission and find high-alumina melts enclosed in a noritic anorthosite. Geochemistry and phase equilibria modeling suggest t...
Cratonic peridotites are typically depleted but have overall higher modal orthopyroxene than young oceanic and continental peridotites. The origin of this enrichment remains debatable. Here we focus on a spinel harzburgite block from the Mogok metamorphic belt, Myanmar, presenting major and trace element data for 27 harzburgite samples. Twelve samp...
Research on returned samples can provide ground truth for the study of the geological evolution history of the Moon. However, previous missions all collected samples from the near side of the Moon, which is significantly different from the far side of the Moon in terms of the thickness of the lunar crust, magma activity, and composition. Therefore,...
When and how plate tectonics operated throughout Earth’s history remain a matter of debate. The absence of low-temperature/high-pressure metamorphic rocks during Earth’s middle age (∼1.8–0.8 Ga) leads to some arguing for a temporary shutdown or change of modern-style plate tectonics throughout the Mesoproterozoic and Early Neoproterozoic. Here we r...
The Chinese spacecraft Chang'e-5 (CE-5) landed on the northern Ocean Procellarum and returned 1,731 grams of regolith. The CE-5 regolith is composed mostly of fragments of basalt, impact glass, agglutinates, and mineral fragments. The basalts could be classified as of a low-Ti and highly fractionated type based on their TiO 2 content of ∼5.3 wt% an...
Plagioclase, one of the most common rock‐forming minerals, can provide useful information on the crystallisation environment, magmatic evolution and thermal history of host rocks. Owing to matrix effects, trace element and Sr isotope in situ measurements in plagioclase have been hindered by a shortage of reference materials for quality control and...
Geological evidence has demonstrated the presence of an intra−Neo-Tethyan subduction system during the Cretaceous. However, when and how this intra-oceanic subduction was initiated, especially for the eastern Neo-Tethys, are still not well constrained. Here we present geochemical and geochronological analyses of the Indawgyi mafic rocks from the Ce...
The regolith samples returned by the Chang'E‐5 mission (CE‐5) contain the youngest radiometrically dated mare basaltic clasts, which provide an opportunity to elucidate the magmatic activities on the Moon during the late Eratosthenian. In this study, detailed petrographic observations and comprehensive geochemical analyses were performed on the CE‐...
Anxia Chen Xi Chen Yi Chen- [...]
Ny Yeung
Melt extraction and subduction zone fluid infiltration can produce light Fe isotope compositions of arc lavas
relative to the MORBs. However, the Fe isotope signature of subduction zone fluid is poorly constrained, which
has hampered our understanding of Fe cycling in the subduction zone. Jadeitite veins in forearc serpentinite
provide a unique rec...
Monazite is one of the most important dating accessory minerals for deciphering geological processes. The growth history of monazite can be identified by its internal structure; thus, high-resolution imaging is necessary for in situ U-Th-Pb dating. In this study, cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques were optimized via the key parameters of working d...
The cooling history of granulite is crucial to understanding tectonic scenarios of the continental crust. Ti-in-quartz, a useful indicator of temperature, can decipher the thermal evolution of crustal rocks. Here we apply the Ti-in-quartz (TitaniQ) thermometer to ancient ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulites from the Khondalite Belt (KB) in the No...
Mare basalts returned by the Chang’E-5 (CE5) mission extend the duration of lunar volcanism almost one billion years longer than previously dated. Recent studies demonstrated that the young volcanism was related neither to radiogenic heating nor to hydrous melting. These findings beg the question of how the young lunar volcanism happened. Here we p...
Orbital observations of non-mare, highly silicic volcanic constructs on the Moon challenge the conventional view of the formation of silicic crusts in the presence of water and plate tectonics—the former the Moon has in very short supply and the latter it likely never ever had. Revealing the silica-rich magma origin may reshape our understanding of...
The Chang'e-5 (CE-5) mission, the first return of lunar samples to Earth since the Apollo and Luna missions more than 44 years ago, landed on one of the youngest mare basalt units (1.0-3.0 Ga, based on superposed crater counts), located at middle latitude (~43°N) far from previous landing sites. On December 17, 2020, the sample capsule returned to...
The history of mare volcanism critically informs the thermal evolution of the Moon. However, young volcanic eruptions are poorly constrained by remote observations and limited samples, hindering an understanding of mare eruption flux over time. The Chang’e-5 mission returned the youngest lunar basalts thus far, offering a window into the Moon’s lat...
Fluorine (F) and chlorine (Cl) are important volatiles in olivine and its high-pressure polymorphs, which would significantly affect olivine phase transition, melting temperature, and physical property of the mantle. F and Cl concentrations in olivine can be detected by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). However, the analytical accuracy and preci...
The relationship of the crustal contact between the Indian and Eurasian plates is a key issue in understanding crustal thickening and the subduction of the Indian lithosphere beneath the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Across the middle of the Yarlung-Zangbo Suture (YZS), we deployed an ∼450-km-long SN-trending wide-angle reflection/refraction profile to...
The past two decades of lunar exploration have seen the detection of substantial quantities of water on the Moon’s surface. It has been proposed that a hydrated layer exists at depth in lunar soils, buffering a water cycle on the Moon globally. However, a reservoir has yet to be identified for this hydrated layer. Here we report the abundance, hydr...
Troilite is one type of FeS polymorph formed under reducing environmental conditions. However, its phase transition by laser heating during Raman analysis has not been investigated in detail. This study focuses on identifying changes to Raman spectra of troilite resulted by laser heating during Raman analysis so as to determine optimized analytical...
The rapid recognition and quantitation of niobium-rich minerals is crucial for the study on the occurrence state of niobium elements in ore dressing process. However, niobium minerals have the characteristics...
Ilmenite occurs as a common accessory mineral in igneous and metamorphic rocks and is a major constituent in lunar basaltic rocks. The distributions and concentrations of major and trace elements...
The incorporation of carbon into slab-derived silicate melts is a vital process that boosts carbon release and transfer at convergent plate margins. The available models mostly suppose the generation of carbonated silicate melts through partial melting of carbon-rich rocks. Here we show that the carbon-bearing silicate melts can also form by the in...
Both continental crust and depleted mantle are characterized by subchondritic Nb/Ta, leading to a mass imbalance when compared to the bulk Earth. Even though several potential high-Nb/Ta reservoirs in Earth’s core and undepleted mantle have been proposed, little attention has been given to those in the crust. Here we present bulk-rock and rutile ge...
The Chang’E-5 (CE5) mission has demonstrated that lunar volcanism was still active until two billion years ago, much younger than the previous isotopically dated lunar basalts. How the small Moon retained enough heat to drive such late volcanism is unknown, particularly as the CE5 mantle source was anhydrous and depleted in heat-producing elements....
In this study, we use Cr-spinel as an efficient indicator to evaluate the oxygen fugacity evolution of the Xiarihamu Ni-Cu deposit and the Shitoukengde non-mineralized intrusion. Oxygen fugacity is calculated using an olivine-spinel oxybarometer, with spinel Fe 3+ /ΣFe ratios determined by a secondary standard calibration method using an electron m...
The generation and migration of slab-derived fluids modulate subduction zone seismicity, arc magmatism, and deep volatile cycling. However, the redox species and oxygen fugacity (fO2) (hereafter expressed as log units relative to the fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer, △FMQ) of slab-derived fluids are highly debated. Here we conducted phase equilibri...
The cover image is based on the Focus Article Earth's one‐of‐a‐kind fault: The Tanlu fault by Peng Peng et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12611.
Plate convergence can induce large-scale metamorphism and magmatism, reshape large parts of continental margins, and subsequently change regional climate and biodiversity. Metamorphic rocks in orogenic belts commonly record different metamorphic evolutions and temporal-spatial distributions at the regional scale, which are strongly influenced by co...
The Moon can have elevated chlorine (Cl) isotope ratios, much higher than any other Solar System objects. Deciphering the Cl isotope compositions of volcanic lunar samples is critical for unraveling the volcanic processes and volatile inventory of the Moon's interior. However, the processes and mechanisms of Cl isotope fractionation are not yet ful...
Lunar impact glasses can provide important information on the bulk compositions of their sources and the impact history of the Moon. Here, we report the chemical composition of fifty-four clean glass spherules containing neither relict clasts nor crystals from the Chang’e-5 (CE5) regolith. They can be subdivided into three compositional groups: (1)...
The Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences preserves an Apollo lunar soil sample E21. However, it is still unclear which mission returned the sample. In this paper, we conduct a preliminary petrological study on this sample to trace its source. The sample consists of basalt clasts, breccia clasts, and glass spheres. The ba...
Large‐scale strike‐slip faulting commonly occurs in active tectonic margins, but rarely, if ever, do large faults cut deep into ancient continental nuclei known as cratons. With thick mantle roots, cratons are considered to be the most tectonically stable portions of Earth’s continental lithosphere, with an eminent exception being the relatively re...
Orogenically thickened lower crust is the key site of crustal differentiation, crustal deformation, and Moho modification. However, the composition of thickened lower crust is still highly debated. Here, we calculate a set of pseudosections with mafic lower crust compositions in the Na2O–CaO–K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–O2 (NCKFMASHTO) system. O...
The last decade of lunar exploration has revealed the presence of significant quantities of water on the Moon’s surface, notably characterised by global water retention, release, and replenishment1-9. This led to the proposition that a hydrated layer exists at depth in lunar soils, buffering a water cycle on the Moon globally9. However, so far no c...
The major element composition analysis of lunar mare basalt bulk rock is crucial for understanding the thermochemical evolution of the lunar interior. However, lunar regolith and soils returned by the Apollo and Chang'E-5 missions have small particle sizes (mostly <3 mm), making quantitative analyses of the bulk rock composition difficult. Herein,...
Geochronological, geochemical, and SrNd isotopic data are used to constrain the age, origin, and tectonic setting of the protoliths of newly discovered eclogites from Chaotanbi, northeastern Hainan Island, South China. New sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) UPb zircon dating reveals that the protoliths of the Chaotanbi eclogites form...
The Mogok metamorphic belt (MMB) in central Myanmar is well known for its complex tectonics, magmatism, and metamorphism in the framework of Tethyan subduction and India–Asia collision. It is also world renowned due to the gemstone-class rubies and sapphires. Identification and discrimination of those petrological units in this region therefore are...
In Western Himalayan Syntaxis, the India‐Asia continental collision occurred at ca. 50 Ma, while its uplift history and exhumation mechanism are still in dispute despite decades of studies. A new type of eclogite was found in Naran, located ca. 30 km southwest of the Upper Kaghan Valley. Phase equilibrium calculations and thermobarometer performed...
Spinel, an important mineral in basalts and ultramafic rocks on Earth, Mars, and Moon, is sensitive to petrologic and geochemical processes, and redox evolution. Due to the small grain size of extraterrestrial samples, investigations on the composition of spinel samples including presence of trace elements and ferric iron have been hindered by the...
Lunar glass can provide critical information on the genesis of lunar rocks and the evolution of the Moon's interior. Several minor and trace elements in lunar glass, such as Na, K, P, S, Cr, and Ni, can be measured by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and are informative for understanding glass type, impact volatilization, and magmatic evolution...
China's Chang'E-5 mission returned new samples from the Moon and has extended the eruption ages of lunar volcanism ca. 800 million years younger than previous determinations. This finding challenges our past perceptions of the lunar thermal and magmatic evolution and has attracted great attention. Since the lunar basalts show a wide compositional r...
This paper reports the dating of basalt clasts from an Apollo lunar soil sample (E21) collected in the Geological Museum, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Due to the small size of the clasts, the previous method of constructing conventional Pb-Pb isochron with a single rock chip to determine the age of Apollo sa...
We carried out magnetic property and paleointenstiy study on five millimeter-scale lunar regolith clasts of the lunar regolith (E21) stored in the Geological Museum, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Among these clasts, two of them are agglutinates, one is breccia and the other two are basalts. The scanning electron...
Orthopyroxene, an important phase in mantle-derived rocks, has become a powerful tool to unravel mantle nature and magma processes. However, the applications have been hindered by the lag in the development of analytical techniques, such as shortage of reference materials. Orthopyroxene grains derived from an ultramafic intrusion at the Mogok metam...
White mica is an important reservoir of boron (B) in subducted metasedimentary rocks. To quantify the effect of phengite breakdown on B release and transfer, we investigated the replacement processes of phengitic mica and associated element redistribution in exhumed ultra-high pressure (UHP) impure marbles from the Dabie terrane, China. Three types...
Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism is critical for understanding the most extreme thermal evolution of continental crust. However, UHT metamorphism predominantly occurred in the Precambrian and is rarely observed in the modern Earth. Here, we report the discovery of~25 Ma UHT granulites from the Mogok metamorphic belt (MMB) in Myanmar via a c...
Both slab-derived high-pressure (HP) or ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) aqueous fluids and hydrous melts are important agents for material cycling in subduction zones. Although numerous studies have investigated the genesis of both fluid phases, the temporal–spatial relationship and the chemical difference between aqueous fluids and hydrous melts during s...
Ruby (red corundum) is one of the most prominent colored gemstones in the world. The highest-quality ruby (“pigeon blood” ruby) comes from marbles of the Mogok Stone Tract in central Myanmar. Although Mogok ruby has been exploited since the 6th century AD, the formation time of this gemstone is ambiguous and controversial. In this paper, we describ...
Fluid infiltration into metacarbonates is a key mechanism to induce orogenic decarbonation, which influences the global carbon cycle and long‐term climate evolution. Little is known regarding the fluid pathways during episodic infiltration events and how flow patterns control time‐integrated CO2 outflux. We investigate the “vein‐like” polycrystalli...
Significant uncertainty remains regarding the exact timing and nature of subduction events during the closure of the Tethyan seas in what is now NW Iran. This study thus presents new geochemical compositions and U–Pb ages for a suite of volcanic rocks emplaced during Cenozoic volcanism in the west Alborz Magmatic Assemblage, which is commonly regar...