We have experimentally investigated melting phase relation of a nominally anhydrous, carbonated pelitic eclogite (HPLC1) at 2.5 and 3.0 GPa at 900-1,350 degrees C in order to constrain the cycling of sedimentary carbon in subduction zones. The starting composition HPLC1 (with 5 wt% bulk CO (sub 2) ) is a model composition, on a water-free basis, and is aimed to represent a mixture of 10 wt% pelagic carbonate unit and 90 wt% hemipelagic mud unit that enter the Central American trench. Sub-solidus assemblage comprises clinopyroxene + garnet + K-feldspar + quartz/coesite + rutile + calcio-ankerite/ankerite (sub ss) . Solidus temperature is at 900-950 degrees C at 2.5 GPa and at 900-1,000 degrees C at 3.0 GPa, and the near-solidus melt is K-rich granitic. Crystalline carbonates persist only 50-100 degrees C above the solidus and at temperatures above carbonate breakdown, carbon exists in the form of dissolved CO (sub 2) in silica-rich melts and as a vapor phase. The rhyodacitic to dacitic partial melt evolves from a K-rich composition at near-solidus condition to K-poor, and Na- and Ca-rich composition with increasing temperature. The low breakdown temperatures of crystalline carbonate in our study compared to those of recent studies on carbonated basaltic eclogite and peridotite owes to Fe-enrichment of carbonates in pelitic lithologies. However, the conditions of carbonate release in our study still remain higher than the modern depth-temperature trajectories of slab-mantle interface at sub-arc depths, suggesting that the release of sedimentary carbonates is unlikely in modern subduction zones. One possible scenario of carbonate release in modern subduction zones is the detachment and advection of sedimentary piles to hotter mantle wedge and consequent dissolution of carbonate in rhyodacitic partial melt. In the Paleo-NeoProterozoic Earth, on the other hand, the hotter slab-surface temperatures at subduction zones likely caused efficient liberation of carbon from subducting sedimentary carbonates. Deeply subducted carbonated sediments, similar to HPLC1, upon encountering a hotter mantle geotherm in the oceanic province can release carbon-bearing melts with high K (sub 2) O, K (sub 2) O/TiO (sub 2) , and high silica, and can contribute to EM2-type ocean island basalts. Generation of EM2-type mantle end-member may also occur through metasomatism of mantle wedge by carbonated metapelite plume-derived partial melts. Copyright 2010 Springer-Verlag