  A key component of the baryon cycle in galaxies is the depletion of metals
from the gas to the dust phase in the neutral ISM. The METAL (Metal Evolution,
Transport and Abundance in the Large Magellanic Cloud) program on the Hubble
Space Telescope acquired UV spectra toward 32 sightlines in the half-solar
metallicity LMC, from which we derive interstellar depletions (gas-phase
fractions) of Mg, Si, Fe, Ni, S, Zn, Cr, and Cu. The depletions of different
elements are tightly correlated, indicating a common origin. Hydrogen column
density is the main driver for depletion variations. Correlations are weaker
with volume density, probed by CI fine structure lines, and distance to the LMC
center. The latter correlation results from an East-West variation of the
gas-phase metallicity. Gas in the East, compressed side of the LMC encompassing
30 Doradus and the Southeast HI over-density is enriched by up to +0.3dex,
while gas in the West side is metal-deficient by up to -0.5dex. Within the
parameter space probed by METAL, no correlation with molecular fraction or
radiation field intensity are found. We confirm the factor 3-4 increase in
dust-to-metal and dust-to-gas ratios between the diffuse (logN(H)~20 cm-2) and
molecular (logN(H)~22 cm-2) ISM observed from far-infrared, 21 cm, and CO
observations. The variations of dust-to-metal and dust-to-gas ratios with
column density have important implications for the sub-grid physics of chemical
evolution, gas and dust mass estimates throughout cosmic times, and for the
chemical enrichment of the Universe measured via spectroscopy of damped
Lyman-alpha systems.
