@article{ZhongHoeflingJohn2025, author = {Zhong, Xin and H{\"o}fling, Felix and John, Timm}, title = {Hydrogen diffusion in garnet: insights from atomistic simulations}, volume = {26}, journal = {Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2410.07724}, doi = {10.1029/2024GC011951}, pages = {e2024GC011951}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Garnet has been widely used to decipher the pressure-temperature-time history of rocks, but its physical properties such as elasticity and diffusion are strongly affected by trace amounts of hydrogen. Experimental measurements of H diffusion in garnet are limited to room pressure. We use atomistic simulations to study H diffusion in perfect and defective garnet lattices, focusing on protonation defects at the Si and Mg sites, which are shown to be energetically favored. Transient trapping of H renders ab-initio simulations of H diffusion computationally challenging, which is overcome with machine learning techniques by training a deep neural network that encodes the interatomic potential. Our results from such deep potential molecular dynamics (DeePMD) simulations show high mobility of hydrogen in defect-free garnet lattices, whereas H diffusivity is significantly diminished in defective lattices. Tracer simulations focusing on H alone highlight the vital role of atomic vibrations of heavier atoms like Mg on the release of H atoms. Two regimes of H diffusion are identified: a diffuser-dominated regime at high hydrogen content with low activation energies due to saturation of vacancies by hydrogen, and a vacancy-dominated regime at low hydrogen content with high activation energies due to trapping of H atoms at vacancy sites. These regimes account for experimental observations, such as a H-concentration dependent diffusivity and the discrepancy in activation energy between deprotonation and D-H exchange experiments. This study underpins the crucial role of vacancies in H diffusion and demonstrates the utility of machine-learned interatomic potentials in studying kinetic processes in the Earth's interior.}, language = {en} }