The anomalously high electrical conductivities (~0.1 to 1 S/m) in deep mantle wedge regions extensively detected by magnetotelluric studies are often associated with the presence of fluids released from the progressive dehydration of subducting slabs. Epidote minerals are the Ca‐Al‐rich hydrous silicates with huge stability fields exceeding those of amphibole (>70–80 km) in subducting oceanic crust, and they may therefore be transported to greater depth than amphibole and release water to the mantle wedge. In this study, the electrical conductivities of epidote were measured at 0.5–1.5 GPa and 573–1273 K by using a Solartron‐1260 Impedance/Gain‐Phase Analyzer in a YJ‐3000t multianvil pressure within the frequency range of 0.1–106 Hz. The results demonstrate that the influence of pressure on electrical conductivity of epidote is relatively small compared to that of temperature. The dehydration reaction of epidote is observed through the variation of electrical conductivity around 1073 K, and electrical conductivity reaches up to ~1 S/m at 1273 K, which can be attributed to aqueous fluid released from epidote dehydration. After sample dehydration, electrical conductivity noticeably decreases by as much as nearly a log unit compared with that before dehydration, presumably due to a combination of the presence of coexisting mineral phases and aqueous fluid derived from the residual epidote. Taking into account the petrological and geothermal structures of subduction zones, it is suggested that the aqueous fluid produced by epidote dehydration could be responsible for the anomalously high conductivities in deep mantle wedges at depths of 70–120 km, particularly in hot subduction zones.

The in situ electrical conductivity of hydrous garnet samples (Py 20 Alm 76 Grs 4 -Py 73 Alm 14 Grs 13 ) was determined at pressures of 1.0-4.0 GPa and temperatures of 873-1273 K in the YJ-3000t apparatus using a Solartron-1260 impedance/gain-phase analyzer for various chemical compositions and oxygen fugacities. The oxygen fugacity was controlled by five solid-state oxygen buffers ). Experimental results indicate that within a frequency range from 10 -2 to 10 6 Hz, electrical conductivity is strongly dependent on signal frequency. Electrical conductivity shows an Arrhenius increase with temperature. At 2.0 GPa, the electrical conductivity of anhydrous garnet single crystals with various chemical compositions (Py 20 Alm 76 Grs 4 , Py 30 Alm 67 Grs 3 , Py 56 Alm 43 Grs 1 , and Py 73 Alm 14 Grs 13 ) decreases with increasing pyrope component (Py). With increasing oxygen fugacity, the electrical conductivity of dry Py 73 Alm 14 Grs 13 garnet single crystal shows an increase, whereas that of a hydrous sample with 465 ppm water shows a decrease, both following a power law (exponents of 0.061 and -0.071, respectively). With increasing pressure, the electrical conductivity of this hydrous garnet increases, along with the pre-exponential factors, and the activation energy and activation volume of hydrous samples are 0.7731 ± 0.0041 eV and -1.4 ± 0.15 cm 3 /mol, respectively. The results show that small hopping polarons Fe Á Mg andprotons (H Á ) are the dominant conduction mechanisms for dry and wet garnet single crystals, respectively. Based on these results and the effective medium theory, we established the electrical conductivity of an eclogite model with different mineral contents at high temperatures and high pressures, thereby providing constraints on the inversion of field magnetotelluric sounding results in future studies.

The electrical conductivity of eclogite was measured at temperatures of 873–1173 K and pressures of 1.0–3.0 GPa within a frequency range of 0.1–106 Hz using a YJ‐3000t multianvil press and Solartron‐1260 impedance/gain‐phase analyzer. Three solid‐state oxygen buffers (Cu + CuO, Ni + NiO, and Mo + MoO2) were employed to control the oxygen fugacity. Experimental results indicate that the electrical conductivity of the samples tended to increase with increasing temperature, conforming to an Arrhenius relation. Under the control of a Cu + CuO oxygen buffer, the electrical conductivity of the eclogite decreased with a rise in pressure, and its corresponding activation volume and activation energy at atmospheric pressure were calculated as −2.51 ± 0.29 cm3/mole and 0.86 ± 0.12 eV, respectively. At 2.0 GPa, the electrical conductivity of the eclogite increased with increasing oxygen fugacity, and the preexponential factor increased while the activation enthalpy decreased. The observed positive exponential factor for the dependence of electrical conductivity on oxygen fugacity, as well as the negative activation volume, confirm that the hopping of small polarons is the dominant conduction mechanism in eclogite at high temperatures and pressures. Our results suggest that the electrical conductivity of dry eclogite under various redox conditions cannot explain the high anomalies in conductivity under stable midlower continental crust and under the Dabie‐Sulu ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic belt of eastern China.