In this paper, we present the recent progress in the experimental studies of the electrical conductivity of dominant nominally anhydrous minerals in the upper mantle and mantle transition zone of Earth, namely, olivine, pyroxene, garnet, wadsleyite and ringwoodite. The main influence factors, such as temperature, pressure, water content, oxygen fugacity, and anisotropy are discussed in detail. The dominant conduction mechanisms of Fe-bearing silicate minerals involve the iron-related small polaron with a relatively large activation enthalpy and the hydrogen-related defect with lower activation enthalpy. Specifically, we mainly focus on the variation of oxygen fugacity on the electrical conductivity of anhydrous and hydrous mantle minerals, which exhibit clearly different charge transport processes. In representative temperature and pressure environments, the hydrogen of nominally anhydrous minerals can tremendously enhance the electrical conductivity of the upper mantle and transition zone, and the influence of trace structural water (or hydrogen) is substantial. In combination with the geophysical data of magnetotelluric surveys, the laboratory-based electrical conductivity measurements can provide significant constraints to the water distribution in Earth’s interior.

The electrical conductivity of dry sintered olivine aggregates with various contents of magnetite (0, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 100 vol. %) was measured at temperatures of 873–1273 K and a pressure of 2.0 GPa within a frequency range of 0.1–10⁶ Hz. The changes of the electrical conductivity of the samples with temperature followed an Arrhenius relation. The electrical conductivity of the sintered olivine aggregates increased as the magnetite-bearing content increased, and the activation enthalpy decreased, accordingly. When the content of interconnected magnetite was higher than the percolation threshold (~5 vol. %), the electrical conductivity of the samples was markedly enhanced. As the pressure increased from 1.0 to 3.0 GPa, the electrical conductivity of the magnetite-free olivine aggregates decreased, whereas the electrical conductivity of the 5 vol. % magnetite-bearing sample increased. Furthermore, the activation energy and activation volume of the 5 vol. % magnetite-bearing sintered olivine aggregates at atmospheric pressure were calculated to be 0.16 ± 0.04 eV and −1.50 ± 0.04 cm³/mole respectively. Due to the high value of percolation threshold (~5 vol. %) in the magnetite impurity sample, our present results suggest that regional high conductivity anomalies in the deep Earth’s interior cannot be explained by the presence of the interconnected magnetite-bearing olivine aggregates.

Electrical conductivities of the dry hot-pressed sintering gabbro with various mineralogical proportions (Cpx_XPl_100−X, X = 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 vol% (the signals of Cpx and Pl denote clinopyroxene and plagioclase, respectively) were measured in the YJ-3000t multi-anvil pressure and Solartron-1260 impedance spectroscopy analyzer at temperatures of 773–1073 K and pressures of 1.0–3.0 GPa. At the given pressure conditions, the electrical conductivity and temperature conformed to an Arrhenius relation. For the fixed mineralogical composition of Cpx₅₀Pl₅₀, the electrical conductivities of the samples significantly increased with the rise of temperature, but slightly decreased with increasing pressure. Furthermore, the activation energy and activation volume were determined as 1.06 ± 0.12 eV and 6.00 ± 2.00 cm³/mole, respectively. As for the various mineralogical compositions of dry gabbro, the electrical conductivities of the samples increased with the rise of volume percentage of clinopyroxene (Cpx) at 1.0 GPa. It is proposed that the main conduction mechanism is the small polaron, owing to the positive relation between the electrical conductivity and the iron content in samples. On the basis of these obtained conductivity results, laboratory-based electrical conductivity–depth profiles for the hot-pressed sintering gabbro with various mineralogical proportions and temperature gradients were successfully established. In conclusion, although the present acquired electrical conductivity results on the dry hot-pressed sintering gabbro with various mineralogical proportions cannot explain the high conductivity anomaly in the oceanic crust and West African craton, it can provide one reasonable constraint on the mineralogical composition in these representative gabbro-rich regions.